


A Tale of Two Crushes

by Potatoe_Knight



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Ladrien June 2019, Plot, Some angst, ladrien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-04-06 02:02:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 22,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19053019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potatoe_Knight/pseuds/Potatoe_Knight
Summary: A Ladrien June fic.Not really any point besides doing the challenge.There will be plot, but I don't want to give anything away because that doesn't happen until the end.





	1. Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> It's not supposed to resemble "A Tale of Two Cities." I just thought of a name, and thought it applied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine Marinette's scarf to Adrien as having fancy, golden embroidery along the edges, which would explain why he would like it so much, and why this chapter turns out the way it did.

It looked like it would be a bit cold out this morning. It was summer, so it shouldn’t be too bad, but… it wouldn’t hurt to have a little more clothing on than usual before going out to his early morning photo shoot. Adrien smiled as he grabbed the scarf his father had given him for his birthday.

As he went down the stairs, Adrien noticed his father heading outside as well. He was pleasantly surprised to have the chance to see him. “Father, what are you doing?”

His father looked up from whatever it was that he was working on his tablet as he walked. “I have some concerns with one of the items that will be going on the new fall line, so I will be coming with you to the shoot for today.”

Adrien smiled broadly. “That’s great.”

The car ride to the shoot began rather silently, even with both Adrien and his father in the car. Probably largely due to the fact that the later was focusing on his work on his tablet.

It was a disappointment. Adrien had hoped that being near each other would mean spending time together, but of course his father would be working the whole time. That  _ was _ the reason that he was coming in the first place.

Adrien sighed, earning a glance from his father. And then another look. In fact, Gabriel looked up completely from his work. “Where did you get this scarf, Adrien?”

The question from his father took Adrien by surprise. “Didn’t you give to me for my birthday?”

His father gave him a quizzical look. “How could I have? I’ve never seen it.” Then, realizing that it probably  _ was _ what Nathalie had given him for his birthday, he quickly moved on to the next point. “But it  _ would _ be perfect for the photoshoot. The problem I’ve had is trying to find a final scarf that will work with the rest of the line. And this is not anything common, it cannot be bought simply anywhere. The embroidery would work  _ perfectly _ for what I want. May I see it?”

Gabriel held out his hand, and Adrien dazedly took off the scarf and gave it to him. The fashion designer had intended to only look more closely at the stitching, but noticed more than he expected. “Oh? Did Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng make this?”

Adrien looked, if it was possible,  _ more _ befuddled. “What?”

Gabriel showed his son. “This is the same stitching she had on her derby hat to identify it as hers.”

Clearly, Adrien had not noticed it in the time he had it, judging by the expression on his face. It wasn’t that difficult to see. “If we could obtain her permission, I would like to add this as part of the line.” Then he looked at his son. “If you wouldn’t mind me using your birthday present for this, that is.”

“No, but…”

Gabriel smiled. “Perfect. I presume you have her contact information?”

* * *

 

The park that had been selected for the shoot was a regular choice. They didn’t want anything  _ too _ nature-esque that would betray the fact that this shoot was done in early summer opposed to the fall, when the line would be released.

The fact that it was across the street from Marinette’s house was pure coincidence.

Adrien had told his father that she was known for sleeping in and was consistently late at school, and would probably be asleep.

Needless to say, he was surprised when Marinette followed him out of the bakery, fully dressed and wide awake, two minutes later.

“Marinette,” Adrien called to his friend. “Don’t you usually sleep late?” It wasn’t even six o’clock yet. The bakery hadn’t been open, even, but Tom and Sabine had been making preparations, and had allowed Gabriel in.

Marinette shrugged. “I-I get up early to pelp my harents- help my parents! When there’s no school.”

“Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng has kindly agreed to let us use her scarf in the line,” Adrien’s father told him. “Her parents have also agreed to help, supporting their daughter’s pursuit of fashion. She will be helping around the photoshoot for today.”

* * *

 

_ Amazing. _

Marinette was in awe. Her help was  _ actually being used _ in one of Gabriel Agreste’s photoshoots. With  _ Adrien _ modeling the scarf she gave him.

Totally unexpected, but also… wonderful.

Gabriel Agreste had been there for the first hour, to make sure that things continued to run smoothly. Marinette was caught by surprise as he walked up to her.

“M-Monsieur Agreste!” She squeaked. Apparently, being near her favorite fashion designer gave her the same reaction as being near her crush. Though she  _ was _ getting better around his son most of the time.

Gabriel looked kindly here. “I came to thank you for working so readily with us. You gave us the scarf and the design unquestioningly. I would like to compensate you for it.”

“N-no! It’s fine! I’m happy to help!” She smiled at him.

Gabriel frowned. “I understand that you want to go into the fashion industry.” Marinette nodded. “Then willingly giving away your designs is not the smartest decision, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng. I  _ will _ compensate you.”

Marinette shook her head. “Really! I’m fine! I don’t need the money!”

Gabriel seemed to consider this for a moment. “Then allow me the opportunity to work with you in the future. You certainly show promise as an aspiring fashion designer.”

Marinette smiled. “I accept.”

Gabriel walked to where his car was waiting and was driven home.

Marinette could not believe her luck. First this, today. Now, she would probably be doing this more often in the future. Working like this, with  _ Gabriel Agreste, _ now, when she was still so young… it was a dream.

* * *

 

Unfortunately, some others had their dreams destroyed that same day.

Paige Mallory Sauveterre was living a nightmare.

“What do you  _ mean, _ my scarf won’t show up in the line?” She demanded of Nathalie, Gabriel’s unfortunate assistant who had to relay the message. “It was one of the first items in it!”

Nathalie was unfazed. She had to deal with a teenager on a regular basis. This was almost  _ nothing, _ comparatively. “All of Monsieur Agreste’s decisions are final. If you must, petition to him.”

As the assistant walked away, she sighed.  _ Why must Gabriel go about deliberately causing akumas? _

* * *

 

Papillion’s window opened to let light into the dark room. “Tragic. A young designer rejected for her work in favor of another’s. Such wasted potential.”

Papillion held out his hand, and a butterfly flew into it. He cupped his hands around it and evilized it. “Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize her!”

With a flourish, he twirled his cane above his head and brought it down.

Now that he thought of it like that, it really sounded rather silly to describe. In fact, there was no reason to be so dramatic all the time.

Oh well. Since he was exchanging interpersonal relationships for this, he might as well keep the drama.

He anticipated the arrival of an akuma strong enough to hopefully bring down Ladybug and Chat Noir once and for all.

* * *

 

Paige was clutching her scarf furiously, not paying attention as black butterfly landed on it, turning it black.

She did, though, pay attention when a mask appeared in front of her eyes and a deep voice spoke directly into her mind.

“I am Papillion, and you will now be known as Passionista. Just as others have ruined your dreams, you have the ability to infuse or remove passion and confidence from others so that they’ll ruin their own. In return, all I ask for is Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculouses.”

“I will follow this new career in earnest. You won’t hear a critical comment from me, Papillion.”

Darkness encompassed Paige, beginning with her scarf, and out came Passionista.

* * *

 

Marinette was contentedly watching Adrien as he modeled for the photoshoot. She couldn’t fathom why Gabriel Agreste was so insistent that she came, when all he really needed her for was to give her consent. Still, she wasn’t complaining a legitimate reason to stare at Adrien.

Suddenly, Marinette heard someone snort next to her. “Tacky.”

Marinette turned around to see who had said something. It was a young woman, a few years older than her, probably in her early twenties. She had gorgeous red hair swept to cover one side of her face, with the other side shaved short. Her face was covered in makeup, but not to the point of being distasteful. She had on a flowing sleeveless  maroon dress that went to her mid thigh, over black leggings and knee high black leather boots. Around her neck she had a scarf with elaborate stitching that faded from a fiery orange on one side to a deep blue on the other.

“Excuse me?” Marinette asked. The woman’s comment and style… “Are you a… fashionista?”

The woman pulled down the cup of coffee she had been drinking from her lips. “No darling. I am Passionista.”

That ridiculous pun of a name didn’t fit her style at all. She would have expected something like that from an akuma, but this girl looked rather normal and wasn’t displaying any magical powers.

“Do you happen to know who designed that tactless scarf that Agreste boy is modeling up on the stage?”

Marinette frowned. Usually, she would love to own it, but the way the question was worded… “Why do you want to know?”

The woman… Passionista, bit her lip and twirled one end of her scarf around with her free hand, almost as if anticipating something wonderful. “For revenge.”

That did it. The strange name, the strong negative emotions… this was definitely an akuma. Marinette was trying to come up with an excuse to leave when Passionista, still clutching at her scarf, summoned what looked vaguely similar to Climatika’s magic, a swirling vortex of icy magic. The akuma shot it at the photographer.

Marinette tossed caution to the curbside as an actual attack had started. It was one thing before anyone was actually being hurt or endangered, but with an actual threat…

Marinette ran back to the bakery. Her parents were startled to see her come inside in such a manner. “Akuma!” she shouted by way of explanation.

Once she had safely barricaded herself in her room, Marinette called out Tikki. “Tikki!  _ Transformez moi!” _

* * *

 

Adrien was shocked when some sort of icy blast hit his photographer. Fortunately, he didn’t seem hurt at all, he just  _ absorbed  _ it.

Adrien looked in the direction it had come from to see who it was. He saw Marinette standing next to someone he had never seen before. Marinette looked at the person in horror, and started running away. Were they akumatized?

His suspicions were confirmed as she walked up to him. “Now, tell me what  _ upstart _ made this thing,” she said, grabbing the scarf around his neck and yanking it off.

“You mean… Marinette?” he asked warily. He felt like it wasn’t a good idea to tell someone that was probably and akuma  _ anything.  _ “What do you want with her?”

The akuma laughed. “Well, of course I need to take revenge on the person who crushed my dreams.”  _ Definitely _ an akuma. “So, who exactly is this  _ Marinette?” _

Like he was going to tell her. “She didn’t mean for the scarf to be in the show. If you want someone to blame, blame…” Who should he say? He didn’t want to put his father under the bus, though he had probably understood what it would do. He wanted to  _ himself,  _ but Adrien hadn’t meant for anything to happen because he brought a scarf with detailed autumn embroidery this morning.

Luckily, before his silence became  _ too _ noticeable, Ladybug came up, and called out. “Passionista! Your dreams may have been crushed, but that’s no reason to take it out on others!”

The akuma- Passionista- turned around, unimpressed. Adrien wondered how Ladybug had gotten there so fast, and how she knew its name already. The villain sighed. “Ladybug. I’ll deal with you later. But for now…” She raised her left arm and shot icy vapor at Ladybug.

The superheroine jumped out of the way and shot her yoyo, catching a lampost next to Adrien and pulling herself towards him. This was too fast for Passionista to follow, so Ladybug quickly was able to put her arm around Adrien and swung with him far away from the akuma.

She brought him into the Dupain-Cheng’s bakery. “Mam-Madam, Monsieur. Do you mind if he stays in your house for safety during the akuma attack? I’m afraid that he’ll be targeted.”

Marinette’s parents readily nodded their agreement. “He can go wait upstairs in our house. That’s where our daughter should be,” Tom answered.

Ladybug smiled in gratitude. Sabine was about to lead the way, but the superheroine put up a hand to stop her. “I remember the way from the time we went up there when we came to deal with Animan. I will make sure he is safe, and then leave.”

Ladybug led Adrien up to the Dupain-Chengs’ living room. Adrien didn’t see Marinette there, even though her parents said she had come up here. He turned to Ladybug. Maybe she knew. “Where’s Marinette? Passionista is mad at  _ her _ .”

Ladybug froze up. “Umm... I’m sure she’s fine. She’s probably safe up in her room.”

That seemed likely enough. “It’s not even her fault about the akumatization. It’s mine.”

Ladybug frowned, concerned. “No. It’s no one’s fault besides Papillion’s. Don’t say that, okay Adrien?”

Adrien nodded. “Still. If I hadn’t worn that scarf today… hers wouldn’t have been swapped out. She wouldn’t be so angry.”

Ladybug looked out the window. “It doesn’t  _ look _ like Passionista is causing a lot of damage, so I can listen for a while if you’ll explain this to me.”

“It was chilly out this morning when I came out to the photoshoot, so I decided to wear a scarf that I thought my father had given me my last birthday. I found out that he hadn’t. It was actually from my friend, Marinette. Anyways, my father saw it and liked it, so after getting Marinette’s permission to use the design, he swapped it out. I guess Passionista must have been the original designer of the scarf, so she got upset about that.”

Ladybug smiled. “I bet that’s where the akuma is!” she exclaimed. Then her expression softened as she looked back down at Adrien. “Still, even the reason Passionista got so angry isn’t your fault. As long as you try your best to help other people be happy, that’s what matters.”

Adrien sighed. “But it still doesn’t help enough.”

“But you  _ try _ .” The superheroine smiled at him again. “I really shouldn’t stay any longer, but don’t stop being kind, okay, Adrien?”

He nodded.

Ladybug went up and opened the window of the Dupain-Chengs’ living room, and swung one leg out before turning back. “Don’t forget to lock the window back up after me. Wouldn’t want anyone  _ else  _ to get to you.” She winked and blew him a kiss before falling backwards.

Alarmed, Adrien rushed over to the window to make  sure she was okay. Of course she, the superheroine of Paris was swinging on her yoyo, perfectly fine. Still, Adrien sighed in relief.

As he left the window, he decided  _ not _ to close it. It would make for a good way to get back in after the battle with the akuma was over.

Now there was just one thing Adrien wanted to do before transforming. He knew Ladybug had said Marinette was safe, but he wanted to make sure for himself. Honestly, he was surprised that the akuma hadn’t gone after her earlier. Maybe it didn’t know who she was.

Not wanting to intrude, Adrien knocked on the door to Marinette’s room. When there was no answer, he came in. And was greeted by a wall of him.

Adrien had been watching  _ Fill My Shoes _ the time Jagged Stone had been a guest trying to be a baker and they had come to see Marinette’s room, where all the pictures on the wall were shown. Still, it was quite another seeing it in person. If anything, it looked like there were  _ more _ pictures up since then. That was a serious commitment to fashion.

Marinette wasn’t in there, however. Adrien closed the trapdoor behind him and went up to her balcony, just to make sure that she hadn’t gone there. Which would have been supremely stupid, with an akuma after her.

She wasn’t there. Adrien decided that the best thing he could do for now was to go and help Ladybug defeat Passionista.

Plagg came out. “Are you sure she’s just a friend? You’re acting awfully concerned for her if that’s the case.”

“Friends care for each other, Plagg. Plus, she has an akuma after her. Let’s go defeat it.  _ Transformez moi!” _

* * *

 

Ladybug caught up to Passionista before she had caused any visible damage. “You won’t get away with this, Passionista.”

The akuma snorted. “Try saying that when you no longer have confidence, Ladybug.”

She sent another icy stream towards Ladybug, which the latter narrowly dodged. “Missed me!”

“Of course I missed you, m’lady.” They both turned to see Chat Noir sitting on the fence. “You know how  _ passionate _ I am about you.”

_ Already _ with the puns? Not that Ladybug didn’t appreciate them, but Chat Noir was constantly spouting them off.

“The Tomcat showed up to the fight,” Passionista said nonchalantly. “Looks like it’s time to heat things up.” She raised her  _ other _ hand with the  _ other _ end of her scarf and shot what looked like flames at Chat Noir.

The superhero, of course, dodged it and came towards his partner. “Looks like you need to get a better aim.”

Ladybug was mostly concerned about the fact that the akuma seemed to have a more complex power than she had thought. “Chat Noir! We need to regroup!”

They ran and went into an alleyway about a block away from the park before getting up on the roofs to avoid the akuma that didn’t have any flying capabilities. Passionista couldn’t get to them before they noticed.

“I thought that she had some sort of ice-related powers. But then she shot those flames at you. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Chat Noir considered this. “Well, she doesn’t look like any thing ice-related. Or heat-related either, for that matter. What is she supposed to be, anyways? A fashionista?”

Ladybug shrugged. “Looks like it, but… passion instead of fashion? She got her scarf taken out of a photoshoot. Oh right! I think that’s where the akuma is!”

“How can we get it then? Without getting hit by her power, that is?”

Ladybug sighed. “Your guess is as good as mine. Lucky Charm!” She threw her yoyo up into the air and it came down with-

“A water bottle?” Ladybug exclaimed. “What good will that do? Put out the flames?”

“I’d rather not find out,” Chat said as warning.

Ladybug looked down just in time to see Passionista’s ice and flam hit her and Chat Noir, respectively.

A chill that had nothing to do with ice ran through Ladybug. It made her more and more… apathetic. Why even try to defeat this akuma?

* * *

 

As the flame hit Chat Noir, he surprisingly just felt more… optimistic about the fight. Seriously? Getting hit just made him more sure of himself? How could that go wrong? If he was more confident, then he wouldn’t have any hesitation. The chances of immediate success were heighted.

Chat cracked his knuckles. He knew he was smiling like a maniac, but he couldn’t help it. This fight would be  _ easy. _ “Ready to finish up, LB?”

Ladybug sighed. “Why even try?”

Chat looked at her. She even  _ looked _ dejected. “Ah… I see. Passionista’s power has to do with passion and confidence. So I know we’re going to do great, while you think the fight is doomed.”

Ladybug had no reaction. She looked down at the water bottle in her hand and started unscrewing the cap.

“Great idea, Bugaboo! Use the lucky charm. That’s a failsafe.” Chat was taken aback, however, as she started lifting it to her mouth. “What are you doing?” He took a step closer to her.

“Taking a drink,” Ladybug said as if it were the simplest thing to do in the world. Which it was, but that wasn’t the point.

Chat took it from her. “No! We need to use it to take down the akuma!”

Ladybug tried taking it back. “But I’m thirsty!”

In fighting to hold it, they both lost a grip on it and knocked it over the edge of the roof onto Passionista. The akuma looked up angrily.

“Now look what you’ve done,” Ladybug pouted.

Chat Noir grabbed her and picked her up bridal style. “We need to get down there and fight the akuma. And you need to figure out how we’re supposed to use the water bottle.”

Chat jumped down and got them safely on the ground. Ladybug squirmed against his hold, so he just dropped her on the ground.

He looked back over at Passionista. Despite the equally angry expression on her face, she only glared, without making a move towards him. Then Chat noticed what he hadn’t earlier. The water bottle had been open when it fell, and had since pooled up around her, leaving only a small island she could stand in without getting her designer shoes wet. Which the akuma seemed to be afraid of.

Passionista turned to the superheroes. “Give me your miraculouses!”

Chat Noir fell into a stance, braced for a fight. “Never!”

Ladybug just sat there passively. “Why?”

Both her partner and the akuma paused at this. “What?” Passionista demanded.

Ladybug shrugged, getting up and brushing herself off. “I just don’t see why you care about anything that much. Didn’t you get your passion sapped from you?”

Passionista scowled, but didn’t do or say anything. Chat Noir recovered his wits enough to take advantage of the akuma’s stupor and rushed and grabbed her scarf.

That was almost too easy. Well, it was. The action brought Passionista out of her zone and just before he could have escaped she grabbed onto the other end of the scarf.

Chat panicked. He would have used Cataclysm, except that would require him stepping away, which might let Passionista escape.

They were stuck in a tug-of-war, both refusing to relent their hold, neither willing to-

_ Rrrrriiiiippppp! _

The fabric was not durable enough to sustain the forces acting upon it from both sides, and it ripped under the tension. The breakage of course made the akuma escape. “No!” Passionista shouted in despair.

“Come on, Ladybug!” Chat Noir shouted to his partner. “Catch the akuma before it gets away!”

When she didn’t respond, he ran over and took her yoyo from her.

_ Hope this works, _ he thought. He tried opening the yoyo, but it didn’t work. Chat grabbed Ladybug’s hand and used it to open it, ignoring her protests. He threw the yoyo in the general direction the akuma had gone and some divine force of magic led it to and caught the evilized butterfly.

Chat pulled it back and…  _ didn’t _ catch it nicely like Ladybug usually did. That took extreme coordination and practice with the yoyo, which he definitely lacked.

Chat Noir turned back to Ladybug. “Can you at least say ‘Miraculous Ladybug?’”

The superheroine frowned. “Why should I say ‘Miraculous Ladybug?’”

Capitalizing on the fact that she had  _ actually _ said that, Chat Noir threw the water bottle up into the air. Luckily, that did the trick, and everything returned to normal.

Chat breathed a sigh of relief. “Hope you’re back to normal, Ladybug. Your job is an awful lot of work.”

Ladybug smirked. She was  _ definitely  _ back to normal. “I dunno, Chat… You did a pretty good job by yourself. Maybe we should switch places more often.”

Chat shook his head furiously. “I am perfectly fine leaving that to  _ you _ , m’lady. I will never underappreciate your work for Paris again.”

Ladybug’s mouth relaxed into a comfortable smile. “Good to know that you were there for me while I was out of it, kitty. Felt like I was back to how I felt after our first akuma battle, with absolutely no confidence that I could be a superheroine.”

This was new. Chat didn’t think she’d told him this before. He was about to ask when her earrings beeped. “Guess I’ve gotta go. Bug out!” Ladybug waved goodbye and then zipped off.

Chat himself headed back to and detransformed on Marinette’s balcony. Before he remembered that he was supposed to be in the living room.

He quickly hurried downstairs and into the living room he was supposed to be in. Where Marinette, apparently, was.

She looked at him and gave him a very confused look. “...Adrien? What are you doing here?”

It took him a second to answer. “Uh… I was looking for you. I was worried since Passionista was looking for you.”

Marinette laughed nervously. “Oh… I was, well, in the bathroom.” She pointed in what Adrien assumed was the general direction of the bathroom.

They both just stood there silently for a moment. “So… should we get back to the photoshoot?”

Marinette smiled and nodded her head. “Sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand that was long!  
> The other chapters should be shorter, but you can't really do much to trim down an akuma battle. Especially for this one, which I had to set up the reason for it with the plot.


	2. Famous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ways to be famous, and the repercussions of fame.  
> Not necessarily in that order.

It was going to yet _another_ hectic day. True, yesterday only _really_ seemed hectic because of the akuma.

But today certainly was going to be busy. A charity ball? That his father had made _very_ public that he was going to be attending? His fan base was going to love _that_.

His father, back to his usual self, would not be in attendance himself. Nathalie and his bodyguard would be attending with him instead.

Adrien would be lying saying that he was looking forward to the event. But it didn’t seem too bad. Everything seemed perfectly fine, in all honesty, until he stepped out of the car.

“Look! It’s Adrien!”

He turned to see a large group of his fans- held back only by some ribbons- looking at him. And as they saw him, they started climbing under or over the ribbons in an attempt to get to him.

_That’s not good, is it?_

Adrien did the logical thing and ran away.

* * *

Marinette was out enjoying the nice early summer weather on her balcony. As she was surveying the scene, she saw Adrien running in the middle of the street.

“Hmm... “ Marinette said. “I thought he was at some Charity ball.”

Tikki looked up from where she was eating her cookie. “You’re right. I wonder what’s going on.”

It took only a second later until they found out why. A huge crowd of people were running after him. Probably crazed fans like the ones chasing him when Gorzilla was akumatized.

“Yikes!” Marinette said. “Wouldn’t want to be part of _that_ madness. Poor Adrien.”

Tikki turned to her. “Maybe you could help him hide, like you did that one time when you were in pajamas.”

That was a good point. “Though… I’m not sure if I can catch up to him at this point.”

“Maybe not as Marinette, but I’m sure that Ladybug would have no problem.”

Marinette blanched at that. “Are you sure that I should be using my powers for something like this?”

Tikki gave her a flat look. “You once transformed just to spite Lila. This is far from the worst thing you’ve done as her. At least this helps someone.”

Her concerns assuaged, Marinette nodded in agreement. “Alright, then Tikki. _Transformez moi!_ ”

* * *

 Adrien was admittedly getting tired. Frankly, if his father didn’t insist that he keep in such good shape for his modeling career, his time spent fencing, and being Chat Noir, he definitely would have stopped well before now.

He was already panting hard, and wondering what he could do to evade his fans or if he should just give up.

That’s when Ladybug dropped in beside him and started running with him.

He wasn’t going to stop _now_.

She smiled at him- oh, that _smile_ \- and commented, “Looks like you’ve got a little trouble.”

Adrien really hoped that the blush coming to his cheeks just looked like he flushed from exhaustion. Not trusting himself to speak, he simply nods in affirmation.

“You want to get away from them?” Ladybug asks, still radiant as ever.

Adrien tries his voice this time. “Y-yeah.”

They stopped just long enough for Ladybug to get a good hold on him before she used her yoyo to swing with him up into the rooftops.

* * *

 Ladybug eventually decided to stay up on a secluded Parisian rooftop until the rabid fans passed. A convenient one just happened to be on the other side of the wall of her balcony.

After landing safely on the roof, Ladybug let go of Adrien. They separated, though remained close.

"We’ll wait out those crazed fans here,” Ladybug said. “Unless you want to go that Charity Ball.”

Adrien took a moment to respond. Ladybug was worried that he would question why she knew that. As Marinette, of _course_ she knew that. But it might be strange if _Ladybug_ knew.

Fortunately, he didn’t say comment on it. “I’m fine. Didn’t really want to go anyhow. Not that I’m _not_ for charity, but a stuffy ball isn’t what I have in mind for fun.”

“Oh.” There was an awkward pause for a moment.

Luckily, Adrien started talking to ease the silence. "I don't suppose you could use a Lucky Charm to get rid of them?”

Ladybug shook her head. “I mean, I probably _could,_ but I don’t think I should use my powers like that.”

She was full of nervous energy. She had to burn it off _somehow_. Ladybug pulled out her yoyo and started doing tricks with it, almost absently.

“Not that helping civilians isn’t important,” she kept rambling. “Of course it is. That’s why I helped you. I just don’t think I should use my special _powers_ unless necessary. Not that I haven’t used it some times when it isn’t _absolutely_ necessary. But-”

“Wait.” Adrien held up a hand. “You can do yoyo tricks?”

Ladybug frowned, looking down to where she was playing with her yoyo. She had honestly forgotten. “Yeah. It’s not like I only first picked up a yoyo when I became Ladybug.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow at that. “So? I’ve used a yoyo before myself, and struggle just to make it come back up.”

Ladybug smirked. “So you mean you can’t walk the dog?” She demonstrated. “Or go around the world? Or…” She continued the same pattern of saying a trick and then demonstrating it, moving on to increasingly complex tricks.

 

"Showoff,” Adrien scoffed, soon before she showed him every trick she knew. “You _could_ be famous with those tricks, though.”

The superheroine shrugged. “Why bother? I _am_ Ladybug. So I’m probably the most famous person- at least in Paris- for the tricks that they can do with their yoyo.”

Adrien burst out laughing, and Ladybug joined in.

Their laughter died down slowly, being encouraged by the other’s each time one of them began to stop.

“Are you going to show off these tricks at the Heroes’ Convention tomorrow?” Adrien asked, innocently enough.

The.

Convention.

Which Ladybug had completely forgotten about the superhero duo’s promise to appear at.

And Marinette had promised Alya that she would go with her and Nino, because Adrien had managed to get permission to go to it.

“What’s wrong?” Adrien must have noticed her concerned expression.

“Ah-h _nothing_!” Ladybug quickly reassured him. “I… just forgot that Chat Noir and I agreed to go and made other plans instead.”

Adrien’s expression melted into what looked like… _sympathy?_ Did his busy schedule make him understand what it was like to constantly miss out on all the activities with friends that she knew he did? “Oh… could you just let them know you can’t make it?”

Ladybug shrugged. “They’re used to me constantly running off on them. Granted, they don’t know it’s usually because I’m Ladybug.”

Adrien smiled. “So… could I talk to you then?”

She nodded. “But let’s get you back to your charity ball first, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one felt like it took way too long to write.  
> I didn't read over it. Call me lazy.


	3. Couple

Adrien used the excuse of the bathroom to escape his friends.

Frankly, he wouldn’t even have agreed to pretend to go with them except that it was the only way he managed to convince his father to get out of his piano lessons regularly scheduled for that time. So he had come with his friends directly from school to the convention, and even enjoyed his time with them for half an hour. But he _had_ to be Chat Noir.

They were scheduled to come at 4:00 P.M., so at 3:55, Adrien opened his mouth to say-

"I need to go to the bathroom!" Marinette beat him to it.

Alta sighed. "Girl, Ladybug is going to arrive any minute now. And looking at that line, you're not going to get to see her."

Her friend shrugged. "It's an emergency!" she said before dashing off in the direction of the bathroom.

Then Adrien remembered that he had to leave as well. "I… also need to go to the bathroom." It sounded lame when he said it like that.

Alya glanced in between Adrien and the disappearing Marinette, almost skeptical, as if wondering if something was going on. But he ignored it, heading to the bathroom, where he found privacy.

Plagg came out of his shirt. "Y'know, with how much you use the excuse of the bathroom, people are going to think you have a bladder problem."

Adrien shrugged. "We can think of better excuses later, Plagg. Now, _Transformez moi!"_

* * *

 

The event was exactly as expected. Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up, gave a speech to the city reminding them to try to avoid akumas, be safe in general, etc, etc. Then they went on to give autographs and simply talk and be nice to citizens for the next hour or two.

 _Finally_ it was winding down.

Chat Noir turned to Ladybug. "Well, m'lady, as much as you know I love being in your _charming_ presence, I do need to leave." He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. "Adieu."

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Can't say that I look forward to seeing you again Chat, as that will probably be another akuma. But until then, work on getting some better puns."

Chat took off then. Ladybug talked to some more people and signed a few more before she said goodbye to everyone in general and swung up in the air to look for a safe place to detransform.

While she was swinging, Ladybug spotted her three friends that she had left. Including Adrien, who she hadn't seen with Nino and Alya for the past two hours. He _had_ told her he was going to be here today, and had agreed that he wanted to talk to her, so she swung down to the group.

Alya was the first to react. "Ladybug!" she exclaimed. "Whoa, you came down to see _us…_ "

Nino was just as chill as always, and gave a nod as way of greeting.

Ladybug turned to Adrien, who was just staring at her awestruck. She knew the expression, considering _that she_ looked at _him_ with the same one often enough.

"Hey." She started speaking to break him out of his trance. It worked. "I thought we said we'd talk."

Alya held up her hands in a time-out symbol. "Wait. _What?_ "

Adrien looked at their mutual friend and explained. "She rescued me from a mob of my fans. While we were hiding in a rooftop, I mentioned that I was coming to this today, and we agreed to meet up and talk." Then he turned back to Ladybug. "Why didn't you show off all your yoyo tricks? That would've been awesome!"

Alya cut in yet again. "Weren't you in the bathroom? How could you know what she did at all?"

Adrien shrugged. "I was out of the bathroom before the superheroes got here. I was just looking at all the booths most of the time."

Ladybug shrugged, glad for a chance of being able to say something before anyone else got in a word. "I guess I kinda forgot about it. I think it's more important to make sure everyone that showed up feels appreciated and is content. That's my job as a superhero. If everyone is happy, then there won't be akumas, and Paris will be safer."

At that, Alya pulled her phone out. "Could you repeat that seriously inspiring statement for the Ladyblog?"

"Sure," Ladybug complied.

Ending the recording, Alya muttered to herself, "Take _that_ , Majestia."

With Alya now satisfied(and distracted) enough to not butt into their conversation, Ladybug turned back to Adrien. "So, why didn't you come to talk?"

He shrugged. "It looked crowded up there, and I was having a perfectly good time looking and seeing what various vendors had." He held up a small brown bag that he had gotten. "Croissant ?"

Ladybug smiled. "Why not?" It wasn't the same as the ones she was used to eating at the bakery, but it was good in its own right. "Mmm…" Ladybug said appreciatively.

Just then, Alya must've finished uploading her video to the Ladyblog, because she looked up. "Is Marinette _still_ not back?"

Which reminded Ladybug. She quickly swallows her last bite. "I've gotta go. Could I take a raincheck on talking to you?"

“I _did_ like those conversations we were able to have," Adrien mused.

“Me too.” Ladybug unconsciously leaned towards Adrien, unaware that he was doing the same.

“You two are the cheesiest couple ever.”

It seemed to come out of nowhere, but it got Ladybug to back away from Adrien quickly.

“We’re not a couple!” she all but shouted, barely registered Adrien saying the same. Shyly, they both looked at each other and smiled.

_Not that I don’t wish it were true._ But they weren't anything officially, and they couldn't date with her as Ladybug. That would only put Adrien in unnecessary danger.

Both Alya and Nino looked a bit taken aback by this. Who _had_ said that, anyways? It didn't sound like either of them.

Alya turned around, as if about to leave. "I think I'll go check for Marinette in the bathroom now."

Again, an obvious reminder. "Wait!" she called to Alya. "I think I saw her walking around earlier. You're probably better off just waiting for her to make her way back to you."

Alya just stood there, looking more startled by it than necessarily actually believing it.

Ladybug turned back to Adrien one last time. "Is tomorrow work for you? 3:00? By the Louvre?"

Adrien nodded. "That sounds _perfect."_

Ladybug smiled and zipped off to find a place to detransform.

* * *

 

Once Ladybug left, Alya turned on Adrien. "What was that about?"

Had she noticed Plagg's comment? Probably, but Adrien hoped that no one had noticed that it came from his shirt besides himself.

Not about to leap so far in conclusions that he'd accidentally reveal himself, Adrien asked for clarity. "What was _what_ about?"

Alya rolled her eyes. " _I'm_ not blind. I know a crush when I see one. You were _so_ into her."

Well, he'd been caught. Adrien shrugged. "What? She's amazing. She saves Paris on a regular basis. What's wrong with loving her?"

"The fact that she's a superhero." The way she said it was as if that were the most basic thing ever. Not that Adrien understood the things that were basic to most people.

Adrien frowned. "I'm equally famous. That wouldn't be a problem with our relationship."

"But _you_ don't go out and save the city every other day."

Actually, he did, but Alya didn't need to know that.

She sighed. "Couldn't you go after someone more… attainable? Like the person who sits behind you in school?"

Adrien shrugged. "We're fifteen. If I could go out with someone I like, sure that'd be great. But I'm in no rush to date for the sake of dating."

Marinette finally came running up to the group, panting. “What’d I miss?”

Alya shook her head. "I'll fill you in later. Let's finish enjoying the rest of the convention."

Adrien was more than happy to let the topic drop and do just that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alya is such a great wing woman. She still is going for Adrienette even though it's Ladrien June.


	4. Model

Adrien could barely concentrate all day in school.

_He was going to meet Ladybug!_

He had asked his father, who had agreed to let him go as soon as his photoshoot that afternoon was over. Which was scheduled to go until 4:00, but he could do really well and make it go quickly. And his father didn’t know that he was meeting _Ladybug,_ just a friend.

But since when did Gabriel Agreste care about the details of his son’s life?

Honestly, looking forward to it, Adrien daydreamed throughout the day until he needed to leave for his photoshoot. If it weren’t for Nino, he never would have gotten any of his notes that Tuesday or arrived at any of his classes on time.

He couldn’t wait for 3:00.

* * *

Marinette was also anxiously awaiting 3:00, though she tried not to show it. None of her friends could know why.

She tried to imagine that conversation with Alya.

_“Why are you so excited, girl?”_

_Marinette would shrug. “I’m going to go meet Adrien and talk to him. Hopefully without making too much of a fool of myself. But I’m usually better at talking to him as Ladybug, so who knows?”_

_Alya would just gape at her, trying to process the information, until she opened her mouth to say…_

“Marinette!”

It took Marinette a moment to realize that this was Alya _actually_ speaking to her, not just her imaginary conversation continuing in her head.

She turned to her best friend. “What?”

Alya sighed. “Stop daydreaming. I want to tell you what happened while you were off looking around or in the bathroom or wherever you were.”

Marinette nodded. She had a pretty good idea of what had happened, but couldn’t just come out and say that.

Alya took a deep breath. “After Adrien came back and rejoined Nino and me, Ladybug swung by to talk to him. It was pretty obvious that he was into her, and she was into him.”

Marinette didn’t react.

Alya took her friend by the shoulders and shook her. “Marinette, you have competition. _Serious_ competition!” After that, she calmed down a bit and backed off. “They agreed to meet after school today. Should we go watch and sabotage them?”

There were some logistical errors to all of this. If Marinette were anyone _besides_ Ladybug, _she_ would’ve reacted just the way Alya expected her to. She probably would have even been the one to suggest all of this herself. As it was though…

“I mean, I want Adrien to love me, but not really at the expense of anyone else.”

Alya raised an eyebrow questioningly at that. “Really? Your reaction to Adrien with Kagami would say otherwise…”

Marinette scowled. That was true. “But she’s not…” _Me._ “... the superheroine of Paris.” That worked. She was certainly not interested in sabotaging herself. “Besides, I want to get all this homework done before it’s too late again.” Also true. But that wouldn’t be happening today, no matter _what_ else happened.

Alya sighed. “Fair point. I also get not wanting to be on Ladybug’s bad side. But…” She grinned mischievously. “What if we waited until afterwards, and you sweep him off his feet by making him realize how amazing you are? Who needs Ladybug when you can date Marinette Dupain Cheng?”

That sounded better than sabotage. And it was closer to what she wanted… for Adrien to like _Marinette,_ not Ladybug. But… “How exactly would this work?”

Her friend burst out into a broad smile. “We set out a banana peel for him to slip on, and then you’ll come in and catch him. Instantly recipe for adoration!”

That sounded amazing. “A couple of problems. Wouldn’t he just… not step on the banana peel? And even if he did, I’m not so sure that I’d be able to catch him with how clumsy I am.” Alya looked put out, but then Marinette got another idea. “What if I ask him to help me with my homework afterwards instead?”

Alya smiled. “And you slowly woo him in your own house.”

Marinette shrugged. “I _do_ need help with the homework at any rate. It wouldn’t just be a ploy to get his attention.”

Alya laughed. “He’ll realize who the love of his life is yet.”

* * *

Adrien did his best to work as well and as quickly in the photoshoot as he could. So he managed to get out forty minutes early. Still, that meant that by the time he got to the Louvre, he was half an hour late.

He was relieved to see that Ladybug was still waiting there for him. She raised an eyebrow at him as he walked over. “You take _fashionably late_ to a whole new level. What was holding you?”

Adrien shrugged. “I had a photoshoot that my father wouldn’t let me get out of. Be glad I’m here _this_ early. It was _supposed_ to go until four.”

Ladybug let out a low whistle. “Glad you _are_ here, then. I was just about to give up and leave. Though I don’t think it was _that_ hard of a job to hurry it up.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think that modeling is hard?”

She shrugged. “I mean, what do you really have to do as a model? Look pretty?”

He shook his head. “No… it takes a certain person to model.”

This seemed to intrigue the superheroine. “Do you think _I_ have got what it takes to be a model?”

Honestly, Adrien wasn’t sure. He considered this for a moment. “Hmm… I don’t know. You’re beautiful, gorgeous, stylish, talented, but…” He paused on the last one. It was the most important for a model, and the only one he truly had no gage for if Ladybug could do model.

“What?” She must’ve misinterpreted his pause for silence.

“How well can you pose?”

This was it. The deciding factor. In fact, Adrien didn’t know whether he expected the answer to be yes or no. Whether he _wanted_ one answer or the other.

As always, Ladybug subverted all expectations.

“I don’t know.”

Adrien tilted his head. “You don’t? Could we try testing it?”

Ladybug smiled shyly. “It couldn’t hurt.”

 

* * *

 

By the time they were done, they had determined that, without a doubt, Adrien was a far better model than Ladybug. She was decent. But she couldn’t expect a career for it as her civilian self to take off.

So Adrien had told her.

Ladybug left before Adrien did, heading back to the restrooms at the Louvre to detransform. Then she rushed back to the spot she and Alya had been spying on, well, nothing really. Adrien was still there now, though just enjoying the pyramid, it looked like.

Alya turned to her. “You just missed Ladybug. Like, _exactly._ ”

Marinette sighed. “I thought you were like, Ladybug’s biggest fan or something. What happened?”

“I still _am_ her biggest fan. She just started competing with my friend for the love of her life.”

Then, Adrien started walking towards them. Mustering all her confidence, Marinette left Alya and walked up to him.”Hey, Adrien!” She was somehow able to keep herself from stammering.

He seemed surprised to see her there. Not that he had any reason to expect her. “Hey Marinette. What are you doing here?”

She took a deep breath. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you, and Alya told me that you would be here.” He waited patiently for her to continue. “Anyways, we’ve been getting a lot of homework lately, and I’ve been clueless about it. You’re pretty smart, so I was wondering if you could help me.”

Adrien seemed to consider this. “Sure. I’ll help as long as I can fit it into my schedule. When do we start?”

Marinette smiled. “Does now work for you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladrien? Pfft. No. Why not have ALL the sides of the square in here? We'll start with the inevitable Adrienette. LadyNoir is likely with akuma attacks. We'll squeeze MariChat in if I can, too.


	5. Damsel

Melody didn’t particularly enjoy needing to do anything to make money, but it was necessary to survive in the city. And it was rather difficult to live off the land without getting on the wrong side of the government, so this was necessary.

It was still with a sigh that Melody sat down by the Passerelle des Arts and began playing her melodica.

Throughout the morning and early afternoon, she had decent luck. But still nowhere near the amount she needed for a license to live off the land. Which was unfortunate.

A middle school girl came walking by.She wore fashionable clothes that were high-quality with a pretentious expression. The white designer pants, black-and-white striped shirt, yellow jacket, and carefully styled blond hair did nothing to hide the sneer that came on her face when she heard Melody’s music.

And apparently, she had to make sure that her opinions were _heard_ , as well as seen.“Ugh, what is _that_ you’re playing?”

Melody was unfazed, dealing with many who often disliked her presence. She gave a calm answer, because that was often enough to dissuade would-be aggressors from pursuing an argument. “Playing my music, with my heart and soul.”

The girl snorted. “Get some better music, then. Even that Florence Nightingale is better than _you_.”

“Mmm… that is not very nice.”

“I mean, seriously? What instrument even _is_ that? It’s the twenty-first century. You need to get like XY and use technology to make music.”

Melody Scowled “Tech…nology.” She hated it. It was a rejection of the environment. She tried to brush off the detestable idea of _her_ using it. “I’m fine without it. Now, if you’re not going to give me a tip and listen as I play, please leave.”

The girl seemed almost bored as she did, as though she couldn’t be bothered to waste her time here anymore. At least she shouldn’t be much more of a nuisance.

But Melody was still watching her as she walked to a trashcan on the Passerelle des Arts and dropped a piece of paper, missed, and _couldn’t be bothered to pick it up._

That was the last straw. Melody didn’t even resist it when a dark purple butterfly came and merged into her melodica, despite knowing that it would akumatize her.

“Malodica, I am Papillion. I give you the power to make those who despise your music appreciate it,” a voice spoke into her mind.

Melody frowned. “That’s not even what I care about.”

“But…” Papillion faltered. “Don’t you want appreciation for your music? You have been ridiculed for it!”

That was funny. This guy was clueless. “I’m a street musician. I’m used to it!”

He sighed. “If you don’t care about that, then why are you so angry?”

Apparently, Melody’s impression that Papillion knew exactly how and why the people he akumatized felt the way they did was wrong. She would just have to explain it to him. “She littered! I mean, _how hard_ can it be to make sure it gets _into_ the trash? And don’t even get me started on the fact that she wanted me to use _technology_ to make music.”

“Well, Chloe Bourgeois is rather ridiculous at times,” Papillion agreed. “I _can_ let you have a power to bring justice for more traditional forms of music.”

Melody pouted. She didn’t even care whether or not he could see it. “I would much prefer making people pick up their own trash.”

Papillion sighed, relenting. “You can use your influence over them to make them pick up trash.”

“Yay!” she exclaimed. Sure, maybe becoming an akuma wasn’t the _best_ thing to do, but at least she got to help the environment in the process. “Okay, I accept your offer.”

Melody was encompassed in dark matter, and came out surrounded in vines. She looked reclaimed by the environment, except for her melodica being in good enough condition to play.

Goodbye Melody. Hello Malodica.

* * *

 

Ladybug knew she was going to be late. Adrien was supposed to be meeting her at her house to continue tutoring her.

She had needed to go across town to use a Miraculous Ladybug to restore everything where an earthquake had hit and caused some considerable damage. She had recharged before she left the area, and now was hurrying as Ladybug to get home before-

She paused as she heard an evil, maniacal laughter at the end of the street she was by. Ladybug’s stomach dropped as she turned her head and her fears were confirmed. There was an akuma.

It seemed to have something to do with- _plants?_ Maybe it was an environmentalist. Those people really did get passionate about nature, and considering everything that humankind did to the environment, Ladybug couldn’t honestly blame them for getting akumatized over it.

Ladybug sighed, getting ready to go face down the akuma, when it started playing the instrument it was holding.

Visible music notes started drifting out of it, and when it surrounded anyone, that person inexplicably got a serene look on their face and began picking up trash off the floor.

Then Ladybug spotted Adrien on the street. He was probably heading to her house. She zipped down to the street right in front of him. “Watch out, Adrien!” she warned.

Adrien took off the headphones he had been wearing. “Ladybug?” he asked.

“Try to avoid-”

Ladybug stopped her warning. Why was she being so panicked? There was this great soothing tune playing in the air. And what was with the trash on the street? _Somebody_ needed to pick it up.

* * *

 

Adrien had been shocked when Ladybug showed up, but since she got hit by the music from the akuma first, it gave him a chance to react. And if it was music that was putting everyone under this sort of… trance, might as well try covering his ears to keep it out.

So he did just that. And it worked. Sort of.

He could still hear the music through his ears. And it sounded so soothing. It made Adrien want to nothing more than remove his hands from his ears to hear it better while he picked up trash.

But he also knew that if he did that, he would be totally beholden to the akuma. It would control both of Paris’ superheroes, and then it wouldn’t be able to be stopped.

So Adrien tried to think. He opened his eyes, which made it easier. There was something to focus on besides the music. And there he saw it. His answer.

In the rush of when Ladybug was trying to warn him, Adrien’s _soundproof_ headphones had gotten knocked to the ground. If he could reach down and get them…

He squatted down and quickly reached for the headphones and pulled them onto his ears. Somehow, it worked. He couldn’t hear the music any longer.

Everyone else was caught up in the music, and the akuma had moved on. Satisfied that it wouldn’t reveal his identity by transforming here, Adrien held out his fist in his usual fashion. “Plagg, _Transformez moi!”_

* * *

 

Ladybug was perfectly content listening to this music and picking up all of this _outrageous_ trash.

But whoever she was standing next to her was doing something strange, getting in her way. Were they transforming or something? Ladybug knew of no magic girls in Paris.

Finally they left, leaving her to pick up trash and look after the environment in peace.

After a few minutes, it looked like that same person came back. They came up to her and reached for her ears. No! They couldn’t steal her earrings! She reached up to fight them off and-

Found herself looking at Chat Noir. She blinked, fighting off the daze. “Chat Noir, what are you doing? What are with these earplugs? And those headphones…?” _They look just like Adrien’s…_

Chat took a deep breath before launching into his explanation. “I got hit too. The only way we won’t be zombified is if we don’t hear the music. Also. PLEASE MOUTH YOUR WORDS REALLY DRAMATICALLY I CAN’T HEAR. THESE ARE SOUNDPROOF.”

Ladybug cringed back at the last part. “No need to yell at _me._ I can hear well enough. Omigosh where’s Adrien?”

Chat Noir stalled. “He probably escaped and went to hide. He’s fine.”

Ladybug wasn’t sure about that, but she figured it’s probably best to simply stop the akuma. That was the best way to keep him safe now.

She nodded. That seemed good. "Alright. She's that way."

Chat frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"I forgot that you can't hear anything. If it makes any sense, the music is… _stronger_ that way."

They took off in that direction.

* * *

 

They used Ladybug’s “in” on the akuma to locate Malodica. The Lucky Charm was just a trash bag, which gave Ladybug the idea to start littering. An angry Malodica tried to fight them by using her melodica, which gave Chat Noir a chance to Cataclysm it. Ladybug deakumatized the akuma and restored everything.

Without knowing it, they both rushed off to Marinette's house.

* * *

 

"Adrien!" He turned around, only to see Marinette coming up behind him.

"Hey Marinette!" Adrien greeted. "I thought you would've been at your house already."

She shrugged. "I was out and… got caught in the akuma attack."

He nodded. "Same. I was on my way here. But I was able to use these soundproof headphones to snap out of it. Then I helped a person I knew that happened to be around me snap out of it until Ladybug and Chat Noir came and stopped the akuma."

Marinette got this weird look on her face. "Do you remember anything while you were under the akuma's influence?" she asked.

Adrien shook his head. "No. I got these headphones on pretty quickly, so it wasn't long. What do you remember?"

She shrugged. "I remember everything. But my head wasn't in the best state of mind at the time, so nothing's very distinct."

Adrien nodded his understanding. "Are you ready to get started on the homework for physics?"

"No, but we'd better get started anyhow. C'mon in. I'll get you a snack."

* * *

 

"One last thing before I go, Marinette."

"Hmm?"

"I can't tutor you tomorrow. There's a fencing tournament… that I've been trying to forget about. But I still need to go."

"I understand. Do well! See you Thursday."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus:  
> After wreaking havoc on that street, Malodica moved onto the next.  
> Apparently, Papillion didn’t like that. “Why didn’t you grab Ladybug’s miraculous while you had the chance?”  
> “You didn’t tell me that!” Malodica protested.  
> “I forgot. You complained too much.” Was he… pouting? Hilarious.  
> Malodica couldn’t help it. She laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ve got her under my control. She’s not going anywhere. The best thing we can do now is keep causing panic so that Chat Noir will come and we can get him.”  
> ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
> Originally, I was going to have them both be "damsels" and set themselves free.  
> But then I didn't. Turns out, this is an Adrien/Chat empowerment fic.


	6. Chapter 6

The fencing tournament went well. Right up until near the end, when someone thought that the decision was unfair.

And promptly got akumatized.

To make matters worse, it had just lost its match to  _ Adrien. _

It called itself  _ Foil, _ after the weapon it had just used, and had been infected by the akuma. When it first came out, announcing its name, Adrien had to hold back a laugh. Papillion certainly had a proper appreciation for puns.

Somehow, he managed to fend off the akuma despite it chasing after him for a few minutes. Its power seemed to be the ability to make “calls”- whenever it said someone got hit, its own foil extended and it almost inevitably landed. Upon a touch, the person becomes its minion.

Adrien couldn’t wait for Ladybug to show up. There wasn’t a way to get him off his tail long enough to transform.

* * *

Marinette saw the akuma on the news. She  _ had _ been helping her parents down in the bakery at the time, with hardly any homework that day. But this…

“Maman? Can I go work on homework?" she asked.

"I thought you said that you didn't have much tonight."

Marinette shrugged. "No, but it won't hurt to get it done early. And we aren't  _ too _ busy right now, so you and Papa should be able to handle it, right?"

"Fine. You can go," her mother dismissed her.

She rushed upstairs. "Tikki,  _ transformez moi! _ "

Ladybug headed up to the balcony and zipped off to the stadium where the tournament was being held.

Once there, it wasn't difficult to spot Foil. He and all of his minions were going after Adrien. Ladybug came down next to Adrien, using her yoyo to knock out a bunch of the minions coming towards him.

"Looks like you need some help," she said.

Adrien smiled. "You're right about that, Ladybug."

"Here. Let me try something." Ladybug took a step away from Adrien. The akuma's minions hadn't recovered enough to come back yet, but they obviously would soon. "Lucky Charm!"

What came was a fencing sword. Ladybug had no idea what type. She handed it to Adrien. "Here. You can make better use of this than I can. See if you can stun the akuma enough for us to get away."

Adrien looked at it. "A foil. If I can pack enough force behind it… it'll knock him away."

Ladybug nodded. "I'll protect you from his minions."

She turned around so that they stood back-to-back and began spinning her yoyo to act as a shield.

Ladybug fought off the minions wherever they were while Adrien fended of all of Foil's attacks. Finally, when there was an opening, he lunged and hit the akuma with enough force to send it flying backwards.

Without direction from their master, the minions were useless. Ladybug grabbed Adrien and got them to the top of the stadium, out of the akuma's range.

"Good work," she said.

Adrien nodded. Her miraculous beeped, telling that she only had two minutes left until she transformed back. "Look. You need to go somewhere to recharge. I'll go look for Chat Noir. Okay?" Ladybug nodded, and ran off.

* * *

 

Once she was out of sight, Adrien put his fist in the like he didn't even care. "Plagg,  _ transformez moi! _ "

It seemed foolish to fight Foil without Ladybug, and since the akuma wasn't causing any damage, he just waited. Sure enough, five minutes later, she was back, fully charged.

Chat shot her a cheshire grin. “M’lady. A pleasure as always. Why don’t we go  _ foil _ Papillion’s plan?”

Ladybug groaned at the pun, but Chat saw a small smile linger on her lips. “Save the puns for a victory, Chaton. I don’t want to take a  _ pun _ ishment before that.”

Chat grinned. “That sounds like a good paw-sibility. Let’s go win this match.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love putting in references to random things from my life in works. Probably only 400 people in the whole world know this one. I doubt anyone will get it, but... we'll see.  
> Akuma fights are hard and LONG to write. So there will not be a continuation of this fight. Really, the only important thing is that they win.


	7. Fencing

Fencing practice had finished up. Adrien was staying behind everyone else to get in a bit more footwork. Everyone else had already left by the time he was done.

He was surprised to see, though, that someone was waiting outside the boys’ locker room. It took him a second to pick up any kind of details besides that at all, but once he did, it didn’t take long at all to recognize it as Ladybug.

She looked up, saw him, and walked up to him. “Hey, Adrien.”

He smiled at her shyly. As Adrien, she always made his heart flutter. “Ladybug. What are you doing here?”

Ladybug bit her lip in a nervous gesture that reminded Adrien of Marinette. Tutoring her lately, he had seen her do that a  _ lot _ . “The akuma yesterday… I was very unprepared.”

Adrien nodded. “You  _ have _ told me that Chat Noir is better than you at dealing with the fencing akumas.”

“I did?”

Had she? He thought he remembered something like that. “Maybe not, but it’s true, isn’t it?”

Ladybug pouted. “Yeah. Anyways… I was wondering… could you teach me how to fence better. I don’t have to be perfect or anything, but it’d be nice as another way to fight akumas, especially fencing ones.”

Adrien thrust his foil towards her, and she stepped back, surprised.

  


“First rule: always be on your guard,” Adrien told her.

Ladybug looked at him questioningly. “Is that really a rule in fencing?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, but if you want to learn to fight akumas more effectively, it seems like something you should do.”

She nodded her understanding.

Adrien walked over to where the equipment was kept and found a foil for her to use and a helmet that looked like it would fit. He came back and handed them to Ladybug, which she accepted and got adjusted.

“ _ En guarde _ ."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now you know why there was a fencing akuma yesterday.  
> The picture quality is slipping, I like... Sorry.  
> I hope you enjoyed it!


	8. Valentine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That last one was kind of short, wasn't it. But now we're back to your regularly scheduled, longer chapters.  
> And, courtesy to my cat waking me up before 6, it gets posted earlier, too!

Marinette should have asked Adrien to come over yesterday. But there was only about a sheet of physics to do over the whole weekend, so she somehow fooled herself into thinking that it was manageable.

She hadn’t wanted to spend her Friday evening doing her homework, but by Saturday, she decided she better get it over so that she wouldn’t stress about it last minute. She pulled it out, and looked at the first problem. And then the next. And the next one. And the last one.

They were all too difficult. Marinette didn’t even know where to start. Then an idea struck her mind.

She grabbed her paper and headed down to her living room while Tikki slipped into her purse. Her mother was still there, cleaning up from breakfast.

“Maman, I’m going out to see if I can get Adrien to help me with my homework,” Marinette told her.

Sabine nodded. “Try to be back here before lunchtime. We’ll want your help in the bakery.”

Marinette nodded and said goodbye to her father as she exited through the bakery. Once they were out on the street, not crowded on a Saturday morning, Tikki popped her head out of Marinette’s purse. “Does Adrien  _ know _ that you’re coming?”

“Oh, right!” Marinette pulled her phone out and texted him a quick text message to ask if it was okay for her to come over to get help on her homework. A minute later, Adrien responded in the affirmative.

The walk was nice, not too long, not too short, in nice weather. But once she got there, she saw the crowds of reporters surrounding the entrance. There was no way she could get in.

Marinette went around to the back of Adrien’s house so that she could talk to Tikki. “What am I supposed to do  _ now? _ ”

“Text him to explain that you can’t get in. You can try to meet up with him later,” the kwami suggested.

Marinette did just that. Then she looked at Tikki. “Hey. I’ve got another idea how he could help me with my homework, Tikki.  _ Transformez moi! _ ”

* * *

 

Adrien got the new text message from Marinette explaining that she couldn’t get in and suggested meeting up sometime tomorrow.

He couldn’t blame her. Ever since the akuma attack last week… well, no reason to stew about it too much.

While he was coming up with a response, he heard a tap at the window. Adrien turned around and saw… 

“Ladybug?” he asked as he went up to it and let her in. He was  _ not  _ expecting her. 

“Hey, Adrien,” she said shyly. She was holding something behind her back. “I know this is totally random, but… I’ve heard you’re good at physics. Could you help me with my homework?”

Ladybug wanted him to  _ tutor _ her? “Yeah…”

“Wait!” Ladybug turned around hurriedly to look at what he  _ believed _ was the homework in question. Then she faced him again. “I had to check that I didn’t put my name on it already. I didn’t.”

They sat down on his couch in front of his TV. Adrien finally got a chance to look at her worksheet. It was… just like his.

Maybe it was common for middle school classrooms. Adrien ignored it and started explaining how to solve it.

* * *

 

The worksheet  _ was _ harder than it looked at first. By the time they got to the last problem, Ladybug was feeling confident enough to do it by herself.

Adrien took the opportunity to get a response sent back to Marinette.

**A: I started working on the worksheet myself. Madam Mendeleiv didn’t go over it that well in class. Do you want to meet up tomorrow to work on it?**

A moment after he sent it, Ladybug’s yoyo buzzed, like a notification. She looked at him nervously. “Can I get this? It’s something for my civilian self.”

Adrien knew that, because he could do the same thing as Chat Noir. He nodded. “Of course. You’re almost done anyways.

She pulled out her yoyo, read something, and typed something. She must’ve been texting someone.

Right as she finished closing her yoyo, Adrien got a reply from Marinette.

**M: It’s fine. I figured something else out.**

**A: Tutorials on YouTube do NOT count.**

Ladybug’s yoyo buzzed again. Whoever she was texting had reaction times identical to his and Marinette’s conversation. This time she didn’t ask for permission to reply.

Again, as soon as she was done, Adrien got his response from Marinette.

**M: I DID NOT! It’s something else.**

**A: Like what?**

Identical timing. Again.

**M: I’ll tell you at school on Monday.**

**A: Fine. Leave me in suspense over the weekend!**

Ladybug pulled out her phone at another notification and giggled. Then she looked up and her eyes met, and she looked away almost guiltily. She quickly typed a response and put her yoyo away, returning to her homework vigorously.

**M: I will. MWAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!**

Adrien smiled at her reaction, but didn’t respond. Though he  _ was _ curious.

* * *

 

Ladybug finished the problem quickly.

“Do you have anywhere you need to be, Adrien?”

He turned to her. “Uh… no. Why?”

Ladybug shrugged. “I’d like to hang out here a bit longer, if that’s okay with you. I don’t have a lot going on today.”

Adrien nodded.

Ladybug walked up to the window, where she could see the reporters still crowding the gates. “Why  _ are _ they all here, anyhow?”

Adrien chuckled. “Remember that akuma attack a week ago?”

“Yes. Passionista.”

“Well, it was at one of my father’s fashion shoots. Footage of the attack caught some of the upcoming designs for his fall line. Apparently, it caused some sort of sensation, and these reporters want a word, or at  _ least  _ to know more.”

“That… sounds crazy,” Ladybug finally said after an awkward pause. “And you’ve been dealing with this for the past week?”

“Yep.”

“That sounds awful.” Ladybug turned away from his window. “Can you show me around your room? It seems pretty nice, and I haven’t really gotten a chance to appreciate it. You know, akuma attacks going on at the time and such.”

Adrien chuckled. “Sure. You can just look around yourself. If there’s anything you want to know, just ask me.”

Ladybug did  _ just  _ that. She looked at all Adrien’s games, grand piano, rock climbing wall, and so on while he worked on something on his computer. Was that the  _ Ladyblog? _ It would be weird if the person she had a crush on had a crush back on her.

It was all fun and simply interesting until she found his secret stash of valentines.

On the top of it was hers.

Apparently Adrien had been following her then, because he rushed in and grabbed it off of the top of the stack, and held it away, as if he didn’t want her to see it. Ladybug began tapping her fingers nervously.

“Oh…” Adrien started, trying to explain. “That’s, um… um…”

“That’s mine,” Ladybug said.

Adrien looked shocked at this by a moment, and then a big grin came onto his face. “Really? I mean, that’s great! I… kinda hoped it was you.”

Now it was  _ her _ turn to be shocked. “You… hoped it was  _ me? _ ”

He nodded. “I know it sounds ridiculous. But I get so many valentines from a lot of people each year, as you can see.” Adrien gestured towards the stack of valentines. “I guess it’s just nice to get one from somebody I’d like to get one from. I mean, who  _ wouldn’t _ want to get a valentine from Ladybug?”

Oh. So that was it. Just the popular status of Ladybug? Maybe she should have denied it. Even said that it  _ was _ from her other self.

Or maybe he didn’t understand her feelings well enough. Could she try another way?

Ladybug excused herself and left to go home. She was  _ determined _ to get home and write a love letter. Telling her feelings as Marinette had never really worked, so she would give it a chance as Ladybug and see if it would work as Ladybug.

* * *

 

Once back home and detransformed, Marinette got out the stationary, sat down to right, and was  _ just _ about to start-

“Marinette!” her mother’s voice came from down in the living room. Presumably her father was managing the bakery by himself at the moment. “We’re a little busy today. If you’re done with all your homework, can you come help us in the bakery?”

The love letter could wait. “Sure thing, maman!” So it lay there forgotten while she went down to help. She could get back to it later, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one I had no idea what to do with. So I just did the same thing I've done with most of them so far. Start building it up for what I want to do later in the fic where there'll be a more continuous story.  
> Glad I'm done with this one.


	9. Clumsy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can tell I was a still a bit salty about my cat when writing this akuma. Oh, well. It works well enough.

It was a nice, peaceful saturday morning, and Marinette was sleeping soundly.

“THE WORLD NEEDS TO WAKE UP AND REALIZE THE BENEFIT OF THE EARLY MORNING!”

Until it wasn’t.

Honestly, couldn’t the akumas at least have the decency to let Marinette enjoy sleeping in on the weekend the few times her parents let her? Until… _six_ would be nice.

* * *

 

Adrien had _not_ heard the akuma. He was naturally an early bird, and already up and doing things. In fact, at the moment, he was taking a walk.

He looked up as he heard a scream coming towards him. Ladybug was coming hurtling towards him. It was obvious she was going to crash into him.

_Not again,_ he thought.

The impact was just as bad as it had been the first time she had crashed into him when they met. Probably because he hadn’t been on a pole this time, where Ladybug’s yoyo could potentially stop the fall before they hit the ground. And he wasn’t in his suit either. That had probably helped.

Ladybug wasted no time in getting off of him. He was mostly unscathed, but had a killer headache in the meantime. Probably a concussion that would hopefully be reversed by her “Miraculous Ladybug!” at the end of the fight.

“Sorry… _Adrien?”_ Ladybug said. “Oh, this wasn’t fun for me either. I’d rather have ran into Chat Noir again than a civilian.”

Adrien managed to pull himself into a sitting position. “What, _exactly,_ happened?”

She blushed, as if embarrassed. “Well, there’s an akuma out, and it sent me flying. I clumsily lost control of my yoyo, so I couldn’t get myself out of it, and you know the rest.”

Adrien chuckled. “Most people have no idea how clumsy _Ladybug_ can be.”

Ladybug squinted her eyes at him, and Adrien almost wondered if that was too much of a giveaway. Honestly, only Chat Noir _really_ knew how clumsy Ladybug was. Not that _he_ cared if she knew who he was, but _she_ most certainly would get after him for letting it slip.

“Do you think it’s _easy_ being a superhero?” she asked.

Adrien shrugged. “Can’t be all that hard, if _you’re_ one.”

“I don’t think you’d have what it takes to be a hero.”

He smirked. If only she knew. “I might take that as a challenge.”

Ladybug shook her head. “Well, I’ve got to go. That akuma isn’t going to purify itself.”

She took off, and Adrien knew that he should follow her. “Plagg, _transformez moi!”_

* * *

 

Later that day, Adrien got an idea. An astounding idea. He got a wonderful, astounding idea.

He set to work immediately, cutting out the pieces. He made sure that they fit, and then placed them all in his bag for school.

There. Now he was ready for tomorrow. He just had to hope that Alya would be willing to cooperate a little bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've given up on writing akuma fights. They're just too long. Don't get me wrong, I love them. But unless they're going to be relevant to the story, they're out for now.  
> Anyone catch my take on the Grinch? Modified, of course. But still there. I even looked it up to make sure that I got the wording just right.  
> In other news, I'll be gone the next four days. I'll see if I can get someone to post them for me in my absence, but if not, they'll all go up by sometime Friday at the latest.


	10. Cardboard Noir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could totally see Adrien actually doing this...

Adrien went to school normally the next day. There was no way his father would have let him leave the house knowing what he was  _ about _ to do.

Once he got to the locker room, however, and was out of the grasp of his father’s employees, he was ready to start. He headed to the bathroom first thing. He was planning to wear it over his clothes, so the privacy wasn’t a  _ necessity _ , but he wanted everyone to see at the same time.

Adrien changed quickly. Now, he was ready to go out and dazzle the room. Begging Alya for help wouldn’t hurt, either.

* * *

 

Marinette yawned as she entered the locker room. She wasn’t running late today, thankfully.

As she entered, however, the last thing she expected was to run into a move into a moving pile of boxes.

Taking a step back, it was easier to understand that it was actually a person wearing cardboard. But- “Um, who are you? And  _ why _ are you in a cardboard costume?”

The person struck a dramatic pose. “I am Cardboard Noir! Here to save the day by helping everyone out with whatever they need!”

_ Not another Mr. Damocles, please _ , Marinette pleaded silently. “But… you’re not even black. Just Cardboard. Marinette peered through the eyehole and saw vibrant green eyes. “Though,  _ Adrien _ , this is  _ definitely _ something Chat Noir would do.”

“How do  _ you _ know?”

Worried Adrien might suspect her identity, she tried to reason why  _ Marinette _ might know Chat Noir that well. “I  _ have _ worked with him a few times. Remember Evillustrator? You even talked to me about it aft-”

“No, not that,” Adrien- err, Cardboard Noir- interrupted. “How did you know I was Adrien?”   
_ Your eyes. _ That sounded weird. And stalker-ish. “Your voice,” she lied.

This apparently freaked him out. “M-my voice?!” he squeaked.

Marinette nodded. “Anyway,  _ why _ are you doing this?”

From the look in Adrien’s eyes right then, she imagined he had a huge grin on his face that she would have  _ loved _ to see. “I… may have commented on Ladybug’s clumsiness yesterday. She retorted by saying she doesn’t think I have what it takes to be a hero. I decided to accept her challenge, and Cardboard Noir will help around at school today! I’m going to ask Alya to make a post on her blog about it so that Ladybug will see that I  _ can _ be a hero.”

Marinette held back a laugh. Honestly, he was such a dork. How could Marinette  _ not  _ see that before. “Somehow, I doubt this is what Ladybug wanted.”

Adrien deflated. “I thought it would be nice to be an everyday hero.”

Marinette put her hand on his shoulder. “You still can be, Adrien. Here, we’ll get Alya to take a picture of you for her blog, and then you’ll take this off and be the best civilian hero there is at school today.”

Adrien took off his headpiece of his costume and smiled at her. “Yet, you still manage to prove that you’re a better hero than me, Marinette.”

Marinette felt her face heat up, and excused herself to go find Alya in order to hide her blush.

* * *

 

“Alright, class. Pass your homework to the front,” Madame Mendeleev said.

Adrien took Marinette’s from behind him and frowned. He looked at it and saw all the work complete. It looked… identical to Ladybug’s at the end of Saturday. There wasn’t even her name at the top.

He turned back to her. “Marinette, you forgot to put your name on it.”

Marinette quickly took it back and put it on it. “Thanks,” she whispered as she handed it back up.

Now that he thought about it… he  _ had  _ never asked her what she had done.

Maybe after school.

* * *

 

“Hey Marinette,” Adrien said, approaching her after school. “What  _ did _ you do for your homework this weekend?”

He would’ve just asked her when he went over to help with her homework, except they didn’t  _ have _ any today. Honestly, it was frustrating that they had homework over the weekend but not on Monday.

Marinette literally  _ squeaked _ when she saw him standing there. “Adrien. I… I got help from a friend.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “A friend? Who?”

“I… can’t tell you more than that. It’s complicated.”

Adrien smirked. “Now I’m just more curious. And you know what they say about curiosity and I…”

Marinette frowned. “I’ve never heard  _ anything _ about you and curiosity.”

Adrien realized that he’d almost given away his identity. It was one thing when he almost slipped up in front of Ladybug herself, but just one of his classmates… “I just mean, you know, the general ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’ Not that I’m a cat or anything-”

“Are you sure about that?” Marinette interrupted. Adrien was in suspenseful silence, worried she knew his identity. True, she had managed not to get akumatized so far, but who knew how long that would last… “I mean, you  _ were _ like a cat in that costume this morning. Which should’ve been called  _ Chat Board _ , because it didn’t have any black.”

Adrien chuckled, trying not to make his relief too obvious. “Yeah… I was just really trying to say that as curiosity can be dangerous for the person who has it.”

Marinette nodded. “Oh.”

Having regained some of his composure, Adrien leaned it. “So? Are you going to be a life saver today?”

She tilted her head. “Huh?”

“Stop me from dying. You know, because I’m curious.”

Marinette shook her head. “No. You seem like you should save yourself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The CLUES! The near-miss reveals!  
> When will it END? (June 24, because that's the reveal prompt. The real question is, how am I going to keep them from realizing it until then, with all of this setup I'm doing?)  
> This is also probably the closest I'm going to get to MariChat in this fic.  
> Eh, oh well.


	11. Innocent

It was back to a normal, Tuesday morning. This whole month had been fairly crazy so far. Adrien could probably write a fairly interesting story about it. ~~Not that he would. It would include parts about Chat Noir, and he couldn’t do _that_.~~

So, yes, it was nice to return to normalcy. At least, as normal as it ever got for him.

It was nice enough as well, until Lila came up to him. “Hey, Adrien…” she said. “I was wondering if you could help me catch up with school work…”

Adrien did _not_ want to deal with her. Ever, really, but definitely not today. “No, Lila.”

She seemed taken aback by this. “What?”

“I think you _heard_ me just fine. And I’ve already explained it to you. You’re doing well enough in your classes, and seem to have a good _grasp_ on what we’re covering in all our subjects. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to head to class now.”

Adrien removed himself from her clutch and turned to start walking away.

Behind him, he heard a slap and a gasp. “Adrien, how _could_ you just _do_ that? Why did you slap me? I just wanted help with my work!”

This got the _whole_ locker room’s attention. All eyes were on Adrien and Lila.

Oh no.

* * *

 

Marinette got into the locker room just in time to see the whole exchange between Adrien and Lila take place.

Following Lila’s _outrageous_ claim, Marinette stepped in to defend him. “No he did not! Adrien is kind, so I can’t even _imagine_ him doing that!”

With Marinette being the last one in, the whole class had somehow managed to arrive at school half an hour before school began. So they set up their own class court.

Most of the class, falling under Lila’s lies as always, sided with her.

Adrien’s friends, Marinette, Alya, Nino, Chloe, and Sabrina by default, stood by him. Even though Alya and Nino usually believed Lila, they couldn’t be tricked into thinking their nice friend would do anything like she claimed.

It was heated.

“I saw the whole thing!” Marinette defended. “He politely told you that he thought you didn’t need help, and when he turned away, you slapped your own face to make a seen. Adrien is innocent!”

Lila put in effort to look hurt. “But you hate me, Marinette, always claiming that I’m lying! And it’s no secret that you have a crush on Adrien! Of course you don’t want to think he’s so mean.”

Marinette froze. Alya immediately stepped into where she had been arguing(it was a good chance for her to use that gavel she inexplicably had), so it was fine in the debate. But Marinette could not believe that Lila would go _so low_ as to out her crush in front of the whole class, including said crush. Scratch that. This was _Lila_ she was talking about. Of _course_ she would go that low. She knew no limits when it came to ruthlessness.

Marinette gave a shy glance towards Adrien, which he met with questioning eyes. He probably wanted to know if what Lila had said was true.

Just then, Alya got fed up with the “debate.”

“I’m going to the bathroom!” Alya declared vehemently, stomping off as Nino took her place.

Marinette knew Alya could get heated, but this was particularly angry. It was probably partially because of her penchant for truth as an aspiring journalist. Not that she verified Lila’s stories. Still… it was worrisome.

“I’m going to go check on Alya,” Marinette informed Adrien, who nodded. That wasn’t a lie at all. If she could _stop_ an akuma before it happened, then that was infinitely better than actually _dealing_ with one.

She got to the girl’s bathroom. “Alya?” she called out cautiously. No one answered. In fact, the bathroom was empty.

Marinette looked at her bag. “Tikki, I’m not sure where Alya went.”

The kwami flew up to Marinette. “Then maybe you should just be ready in case Alya _does_ get akumatized.”

Marinette nodded. “Okay, then. Tikki, _transformez moi!”_

* * *

 

It had been several minutes since Marinette left. A couple longer since Alya was gone. Adrien really hoped that she was okay. And this all was a lot of trouble because they knew that he was innocent.

He was looking for one or both of them to return from the bathroom. Adrien could pretty confidently say that one of the last things he expected to see was Ladybug coming from the direction of the bathroom.

She came up to their class trial. “Have you seen an akuma in a sleek black suit with a gavel calling themselves the ‘Prosecutor’ come here?”

Everyone else was too stunned at her presence to speak at the moment, but since he noticed her coming, Adrien had a chance to recover first and respond. “No. We haven’t seen any akumas.” He was worried that it was one of his friends. Probably Alya, because she seemed angrier, but it could be Marinette, too. Who knew how much Lila hurt her with what she said?

Ladybug scowled. “I’m surprised she hasn’t. The way she was talking, it sounded like she was enraged by something here…”

Suddenly, from the direction of the locker room doors came a maniacal laughter. “I am the Prosecutor, and I will rule on what is true!”

Ladybug turned around, groaning. “That’s not even how it works! It’s the judge who makes a decision, not the lawyers.”

“I’ll be the judge of that!” Adrien had to appreciate an akuma with good puns, even if they weren’t quite fitting with the name.

Ladybug started after the akuma, chasing her away. With the scene in disarray, Adrien slipped away to transform.

* * *

 

With a hanger for a Lucky Charm, a plan involving glue sticks, a Cataclysm to the lockers, and a chair and the gaming console from the library, Ladybug and Chat Noir finally had the Prosecutor back in the locker room, with him holding the akuma down and Ladybug about to destroy the akumatized gavil.

Right as Ladybug was about to throw it on the ground to break it, Lila, who had ventured back, snorted. “Not as though she was right.”

Annoyed, the superheroine turned to her. “No. Not in her method. But I’ve heard enough about the case, and know enough about Adrien to know that he’s not the one in the wrong.” She lifted up the gavel. “Adrien is _innocent_.” She brought it down and hit it on the bench as if a judge ruling a decision, breaking it and releasing the akuma in the process.

Adrien and Chat Noir fell in love with her a bit more right then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, I didn't *totally* skip over the akuma fight this time. Use your imagination with what I said for the fight. I didn't actually come up with anything.  
> I know the picture has Adrien while he's Chat Noir in the story. That's because I draw the pictures before writing the chapter, and what I was planning on happening this chapter got changed a bit. But I like the changes for the better, so it's okay.  
> Besides, it reflects Adrien's greater admiration for Ladybug well.
> 
> The rest of the day passes without incident. Since I treat this fic on a accurately portrayed day-by-day basis, that's implied, but I figured I would directly say it.


	12. Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes it's confusing to remember that they are realistically speaking French. I almost put "English Class" before realizing that means something totally different anywhere that isn't a predominantly English-speaking country.

Wednesday morning passed far less eventfully than the past two days.

In fact, it was the best day so fat that month until they got to French class.

After calling attendance, Mademoiselle Bustier addressed what they were going to do in the class. “Today, we’re doing something different than usual. With the end of the school year approaching, I think it would be nice before starting a final project to talk about what you want to do in the future.”

Everyone else in class had an ready, unsurprising answer. From Chloe’s “Fabulous” to Ivan’s “Rockstar,” every answer was immediate.

Adrien was trying to figure out what he was going to say.

“Marinette, you need to answer,” their teacher called.

“Uhh…” the girl behind him hesitated. Did… did she not know for certain what she wanted either?

Alya stepped in. “Of course Marinette wants to be a fashion designer. Right?”

Marinette chuckled. “Y… yeah. Right.”

Mademoiselle Bustier seemed to find this acceptable. “Adrien?”

Now it was his turn. “I…” He ended up saying something about being a model or taking over his father’s business. Just like what was expected of him.

But the real answer was  _ I don’t know _ .

* * *

 

Marinette also wasn’t certain of what she wanted with her own future.

Sure, she had always wanted to go and be a fashion designer like Alya had said for her in class… but she knew it was a time-consuming job. And if Papillion was still on the loose by then, she’d have to keep up her Ladybug duties, which would  _ not _ help.

Frankly, even if she  _ didn’t _ have to deal with Papillion anymore, she got called on as Ladybug so much that she didn’t know if she could keep a reliable career. Honestly, her best chance was probably as an artist.

With some free time due to a lack of homework(seriously, were they going to get  _ any _ this week? Not that Marinette was complaining), she transformed into Ladybug and went up to the trusses of the Eiffel Tower to sit down and think.

Ladybug was startled out of her moping when her yoyo buzzed with a notification. She pulled it out and saw a text message from Adrien.

**A: Hey, can we talk?**

She texted him back.

**M: Talk as in text or call? Because those two are very different.**

She got her answer as Adrien popped up on her yoyo thirty seconds later, calling her. She cleared her throat in an attempt to do her best Marinette voice. Simply being in the suit tended to make Ladybug sound a bit more naturally confident, and it showed in her voice. “Guess that’s my answer then.”

Adrien chuckled from the other side of the phone. “Yeah… I guess I’m too impatient to wait for texts. It’s also easier to tell if you’re purposefully ignoring me or not. I hope you’re busy though. If you are, I can call back later.”

“No, no,” Ladybug assured him. “It’s fine. I’m just… overlooking Paris.”  _ True enough _ .

“On your balcony?”

She gave a non committal hum. “At any rate, why did you want to talk?”

“Today, during French, you hesitated on your answer,” Adrien began. Ladybug caught her breath. He had noticed? “I wondered if you any concerns about the future, too.”

She sighed. “Yeah.”

“If you don’t mind, can we talk about them?”

How did he read her mind. She  _ did _ want to do that. There simply wasn’t someone she  _ could _ talk to, someone she could make understand. But she felt that if she altered her problems a little bit, she felt he could truly understand. “You go first.”

“Thanks. I feel like no one can really understand unless they know what it is like to be uncertain about their future.” He took a deep breath. “I know my father will expect me to take over his company for him. But I’m not interested in business, and sorry- fashion.”

Ladybug laughed. “I understand that it isn’t  _ everyone’s _ passion. Do you know what you  _ do _ want to do?”

Adrien sighed. “No. That’s the problem. Sure, there are some things I like. But somehow I doubt being a professional gamer is a healthy career choice.”

Something about what he said reminded her of something she heard once. “I don’t remember where, but I once heard that you shouldn’t make a career choice about your current interests. They change very often, actually. Instead, do something that’s valuable to the world.”

Adrien was silent for a moment. “Thanks, Marinette. I think you just made me stop worrying about my future.”

“I just stopped worrying about mine, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more Adrienette, I know... Oh well. I don't care.


	13. Meeting Gabriel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is completely self-serving. Though I needed to do some setup for the next couple of chapters, and that was bogging me down near the end.  
> And, of course, there's foreshadowing, but I work some of that into every chapter.

Once again, there was an akuma angry at Gabriel Agreste.

“HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT MY PICTURES WERE IMPERFECT!” the self-proclaimed Perfectionist shouted at the front of the mansion.

Ladybug sighed as she zipped past the gate and went inside the mansion. Inside, she called out cautiously. “Monsieur Agreste?”

No response. She knew a fair amount of the layout of the house from previous akuma attacks, so she went to his office. No one was there. Then she looked for the secretary’s office. The secretary is in her office, at least.

Gabriel’s assistant looked up as Ladybug entered her office. “Ladybug? What brings you here?”

“An Akuma’s after Gabriel Agreste. I want to get him to safety so that I can take focus solely on defeating the akuma, and not also protecting him.” She took a deep breath. “Do you know where he is?”

The secretary pressed a button on her phone. “Sir? Ladybug is here to protect you from the akuma.”

“Tell her I’ll be to your office in two minutes.”

That was easy. And two minutes later, there he was.

Wearing a purple  _ dress _ with a butterfly logo.

Ladybug could do nothing but stare and point at it. “What are you wearing that for? Monsieur Agreste, sir?”

His arms were crossed. “It’s for an ad campaign we’re experimenting with. ‘See the Agreste in a Dress.’ My dissatisfaction with the picture quality was in fact the cause of this akuma.”

Ladybug nodded. “Alright. Is it alright with you if I take you to your son’s school to hide?”

* * *

 

After defeating the Perfectionist, Ladybug returned to the school, this time with Chat Noir in tow. They went to Principal Damocles’s office, where she had left him. Only to find that Gabriel Agreste wasn’t there.

“Right after you left, he excused himself to go to the bathroom,” the principal explained.

So there they headed.

Chat Noir, of course, was the one to go in. “Monsieur Agreste? Are you ready to be taken home?”

Gabriel coughed. “Uh- one minute!” The toilet started flushing and he entered a huge coughing fit. But if Chat  _ really _ listened, he could hear something underneath it all. Something that sounded rather like his… detransformation?

Gabriel Agreste came out of the stall. Wearing a…  _ dress? _ Oh. Right. Chat had forgotten about that stupid project. He hoped they didn’t go through with it. It was a terrible idea.

Recovering from his shock, Chat Noir bowed. “If you’re ready to go home, I  _ do _ believe that is  _ my  _ pleasure to take you.”

Gabriel maintained that all-too-perpetual frown on his face. “Frist, I’d like to have a word with Ladybug.”

They exited the bathroom. Apparently, she had been eavesdropping. “What is it?”

Gabriel Agreste took a deep breath. “I was impressed by your protection of me during the akuma attack today. Might I ask you to protect my son?”

She cocked her head. “If I did, when would I start?”

“Tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though this is Ladrien June, and a Ladrien fic, there keeps not being Ladrien.  
> I've given up.
> 
> How'd you like Gabriel "A-dress?" It came up once when I was talking to a friend and the missaid his last name. And this is where I decided to use it.


	14. Pictures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaaaaaack!  
> Sorry this took so long. I procrastinated posting all of these until right now. Even though I did get back to wifi yesterday.  
> Anyway, enjoy this very short thing.

She said yes.

So that meant Adrien would see her again today. Since Ladybug  _ was _ his new bodyguard.

Specifically, she would show up at the photoshoot.

But first, he had to get this haircut over with.

* * *

Ladybug showed up to the location of the photoshoot. Thankfully, it was after school, so she wouldn’t need to come up with any excuses for  _ this _ .

Unfortunately, she had trouble convincing her parents to let her  _ leave. _ So she was running a  _ tad _ late.

They had started the photoshoot without her. Ladybug got a good look at Adrien.

His hair had been cut. Which somehow made him even  _ more  _ attractive than he already was. If  _ that  _ was the reason he needed to leave school early, she thought it was rather appropriate. The suit was very nice and the green tie brought out his eyes.

Ladybug sighed. Yes, this was nice, but maybe she should have thought this through a bit more.

How well could she protect him if she was too busy ogling him? He looked too fine not to do that now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no ideas really. This was simple enough, so I went through with it.  
> I can't write fluff well guys please help.  
> I literally just wanted to draw Adrien with short hair, so I did. I've seen better pictures of it.


	15. Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really need to start planning these out better so that I can actually put them out on the day I'm supposed to as long as I'm here.

Ladybug forgot. How could she _completely_ forget? True, Gabriel Agreste hadn’t told her a specific time that she _had_ to be there or anything, but… still. She should have been there earlier than… 5:00 pm.

Adrien’s window was open for whatever reason, so Ladybug just came and swung right back down in.

Adrien turned around from where he was stationed at his computer. “Ladybug! So you _could_ make it today. I was wondering where you were.”

She shrugged. “I kinda forgot about my agreement with your father. And I was kinda busy all day…” Helping her parents out at the bakery was no joke.

He nodded understandingly. “Well, since there’s no attack or danger to my life right now, could I interest you in… dinner?”

Ladybug considered the offer. The bakery was especially busy during the weekends, so she would be eating dinner alone at home anyways. “Why not?”

* * *

 

Adrien couldn’t very well explain away why he was having dinner with enough proportions for _two_ people, especially when he was supposed to be on a diet.

True, the reason was that Ladybug was here, which was _supposed_ to happen, but Adrien figured that Guard Duty did not include dinner together in his father’s book.

So he just quickly prepared a large pot of ramen leaving Ladybug to explore his room. Not that it had worked so well when doing that _last_ week. But when he was done, he found her in front of tv, staring at his gaming console.

“Want to play?” he asked her.

Startled, Ladybug whipped around. “Uh- n-no! I mean, it would be weird to during dinner. I wouldn’t want to distract from the meal.”

Adrien moved to set the pot down on the table in front of the tv. “Wait!” Ladybug stopped him. He paused, looking at her expectantly. “Uh… shouldn’t we make it a _little_ more formal. Like, I don’t know, have a tablecloth or something?”

“I don’t exactly have a spare tablecloth in my room.” Then Adrien got an idea. He handed the pot to Ladybug and rushed off to where his spare bed sheets were kept. He found a top sheet from a set that he never used and rushed back. “Voila! This will do.”

Adrien spread it across the table as quickly as he could, and then Ladybug set down the pot in the middle close to the edge nearest the couch. They both sat down.

“I apologize for the lack of plates and dining utensils,” Adrien told Ladybug. “But allow me to demonstrate how we shall eat.”

He took one end of a noodle, put it in his mouth, and _slurped_ it up. Ladybug burst out laughing, but tried covering it up, placing her hand over her mouth.

“Let me try.” She did so.

After several minutes of laughing over the way they were eating their meal, they fell into an unfortunately awkward silence. Unable to bear it, Adrien turned to Ladybug. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather play a game?”

She hesitated. “Depends. Do you have Ultimate Mecha Strike 3? And are you ready to get crushed?”

* * *

 

Ladybug was winning.

[Insert cool video game action here because I know absolutely nothing about either video games or action to effectively right it.]

Remembering to continue eating, Ladybug got another noodle in her mouth and started slowly slurping it while playing. Why was it going upward though? Ladybug turned to look and see, and noticed that Adrien was also eating that same noodle. And they were almost to eating the same point- and accidentally kissing.

Ladybug quickly broke off from the noodle. Sure, she wanted to kiss Adrien, but this was _not_ the way she wanted to do that.

Distracted, Adrien managed to win the round. He hadn’t even noticed what had happened.

Ladybug only won about half the rounds for the rest of the night.

* * *

 

Long after Ladybug had left, Adrien was surprised to hear a knock on his door. “Yes?” he called.

His father came in, looking mildly concerned. “Did Ladybug come over today, son?”

Adrien nodded. “Though not until late. She was busy today, apparently.”

Gabriel nodded, thoughtful. Looking… relieved. And glad? “What did you do with her?”

Had dinner. But no. Adrien wasn’t going to tell his father that, the same reason he didn’t have the cook make the meal. “We played Ultimate Mecha Strike 3. She totally beat me.”

“ _You?_ ” Gabriel asked. “I was under the impression that you were rather good at the game.”

So his father _did_ care for Adrien. “Yes. The only other person I’ve met who is better than me is Marinette. You know, she was one of the ones from my school who went and won the city-wide tournament for that game.”

Gabriel nodded. “Well, then. Good to know what you did today. Uh… good night.”

Adrien smiled as his father left. Maybe his father was starting to come to care about him, and showing him his affection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case you couldn't tell earlier, Gabriel is completely just using the excuse of having Ladybug be a Body Guard to his son to try to learn more about what her secret identity is. That's what the conversation at the end is *actually* about. Adrien's just too optimistic and misinterpreted it.  
> And the drawing/ noodle scene was 100% inspired by the Lady and the Tramp. Seems to fit.


	16. Blush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short Chapter. Wanna know how short? 60 words. That's really short.  
> But I just wanted to get this chapter over with, so here it is.

Adrien was ecstatic from the conversation he had with his father last night. And the fact that it was all because of Ladybug.

So once she came into his room that Sunday, he couldn’t help himself. He went up and hugged her.

His face immediately burned up.

When they broke the embrace, her face looked as red as his felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how to draw blushes.
> 
> I went out and tried outlining everything in advance. Want to know what I put for today?  
> Pfft. Like I’ve got ideas.  
> Probably either:  
> fluff, fluff, fluff  
> Or  
> Omythatssuperembarassing
> 
> Which is pretty much how it was actually writing the chapter.


	17. Aspik

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I was first trying to figure out what to do with this prompt, I was really lost.  
> But I'm glad with what I came up with. I mostly stuck to my original plan, with only one change, only because I realized something better that I could do to set up the next chapter.

Adrien heard a bad cough in his room. He turned to look at Plagg. Who promptly coughed again.

“Are you okay?”

Plagg nodded. “Of cou-” He was interrupted by another cough.

Adrien gave his kwami a flat look. “I don’t believe it. Tell me what a kwami does to get better.”

* * *

 

Promptly half an hour later, they were at some random address. Adrien turned to Plagg. “Are you sure?” The kwami nodded.

Adrien raised his fist and knocked on the door. An old Chinese man in a red hawaiian shirt answered it.

The same one he helped that first day before he became Chat Noir. The same one who gave him a potion during the Syren akuma. The same one who came to him afterwards, giving him different cheeses for Plagg to transform and allowing him to know more.

That’s when Adrien knew that this was the right place.

* * *

 

Inside his place, Master Fu frowned. “This is very serious, Adrien. I’m not sure how quickly I can heal Plagg.”

They heard crashing noises from outside simultaneously as a notification went off on Adrien’s phone. He checked it. It was from the Ladyblog, reporting a new akuma.

Adrien showed it to Master Fu. “But I need to go help Ladybug!”

Fu seemed to consider this for a moment. “You can choose a new Miraculous,” the elderly man said solemnly.

Adrien was a bit taken aback by this. It was always Ladybug who had to choose a new miraculous. But it was always for a new miraculous holder. In this case… well, it _did_ make more sense for _him_ to choose his own _new_ miraculous.

Master Fu brought out the miraculous box. And Adrien could only _gape_ at the choices.

Finally, he was drawn to a turquoise bangle, and picked it up. A new kwami came out of it upon that. “Hello, Chat Noir. I am Sass.”

Adrien greeted the creature, put on the bangle, and said, “ _Transformez moi!”_

After transforming into Aspik, Plagg called out at him. “Traitor!”

“Now who got sick?” Adrien- well, Aspik- countered.

Plagg grunted in reply, but didn’t say another thing until he left.

* * *

 

“Give me your Miraculous, Ladybug!” the akuma demanded.

“Never, Traitor!” Ladybug shouted back.

That was its name. Traitor. It had been betrayed somehow, and its power was to make others feel just as betrayed. Hopefully it wouldn’t start working on her before she got a chance to defeat it.

Where was Chat Noir, by the way?

“He’s not coming,” the akuma answered as if reading her thoughts. “You’re alone. Helpless. _Betrayed._ ”

More terrifying than what it said was that Ladybug couldn’t help but believe it.

Suddenly, a whip caught the akuma. “Wrong. She’s never been helpless. And now that I’m here, she’s definitely not alone.”

For a moment, Ladybug could’ve sworn it was Chat Noir’s voice. Or was it Adrien’s? But she look over and saw a boy with blond hair, shorn short on the sides, longer on the top. He wore a teal skin-tight suit, with white scale designs all across it. It was broken up by tan on the chest, and a matching belt and boots. He was holding a whip in each hand.

Using the opportunity of the akuma being caught, Ladybug and this new… superhero escaped. As soon as they were alone, Ladybug turned on him. “Who are you?”

He gave her a toothy smile, that was rather Chat-like. “Chat Noir is out-of-commission for today. I am his temporary replacement, Aspik.”

Ladybug scowled. Hopefully, this kid could work together with her as well as Chat Noir. They _needed_ to defeat this akuma.

* * *

 

As soon as the akuma was defeated and Adrien got back to his place, Master Fu got a call from Marinette.

“Master Fu! Chat Noir abandoned me!” Even after everything was restored, she _still_ hadn’t been able to get the akuma’s whispers out of her head.

Master Fu sighed. “No… his kwami just got ill, like Tikki did once. Except it was even more severe and unable to fix as swiftly as Tikki.”

“Oh… that’s fine. By the way, who was that new guy today? I _really_ liked him. Not that he’d replace Chat Noir! Just… I’d really like to work with him another time.”

Should he tell her? “Don’t worry about it. Now that Chat Noir’s kwami has had a checkup he should be fine for the next hundred years or so.”

“Oh…” Then Marinette sharply inhaled. “I forgot that I’m babysitting tonight! I need to leave! Alrightthanksbye!”

Adrien was still at Master Fu’s, waiting for Plagg to finish healing, and overheard the conversation.

“Who was that?” he asked.

“Ladybug.” He answered honestly.

Adrien smiled. “You have her number? Could you give it to me?”

Master Fu decided not to, and especially not to tell Adrien what she thought of Aspik. No need to encourage this rash hormonal teenage behavior.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always draw my pictures my hand before scanning and tracing them digitally. The scales were easy digitally, just copy and paste. But I also did them by hand, not because I particularly wanted to, but because I hand nothing but time. Thanks to a flat tire in the middle of almost nowhere.  
> It was great! It only completely ruined our plans for the day, but it turned out fine.  
> Sorry. I needed to vent somewhere. But I am never hand-drawing that many scales again.


	18. Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been terrible about getting behind, but now I've finished all of the pictures and most of the writing. So you can expect that it will now be posted on schedule for the remainder of the fanfic. For now, have fun catching up on what I've been postponing.

Ladybug was worried, heading over to Adrien’s after school that day, while she was thinking about Aspik yesterday, she had realized two things.

One, Adrien was Aspik. The short hair, the similar features… how could she have missed it?

Two, that was freakishly dangerous. Because an  _ unusually  _ large number of akumas lately had been targeting him and his father.

She needed to talk to him.

* * *

 

Adrien listened as Ladybug explained what she thought about the akumas targeting him. True, he had noticed that most of the akumas this month  _ had _ been placed in proximity of him.

“I don’t think you need to worry,” he reassured her.

Ladybug sighed. “I  _ will _ worry, as long as you keep going and doing reckless things like becoming  _ Aspik. _ ”

He froze. Adrien didn’t know how to react to that. Ladybug  _ knew _ who he was yesterday. Part of him wanted to get angry at her for never recognizing him as Chat Noir but it was immediate in her recognition of Aspik. But all he could manage was, “You knew?”

Ladybug shrugged. “Not at first. But then I thought about it, and you were  _ way _ too similar to mistake for anyone else.

“But still. If you do reckless things like that, Papillion is sure to come after you, and though I’m not sure why he’s doing that, we probably shouldn’t let him succeed.”

Adrien grabbed Ladybug by the shoulders, and made her look at him in the eye. “Ladybug, do you trust me?”

Startled a bit, all she managed was a nod.

“Then know that I can take care of myself. Besides, I trust you and Chat Noir to take care of the akumas and stop Papillion from winning.” He let her go.

After shaking her head and regaining her focus, Ladybug looked back at him. “Well, then, if you don’t see any dangerous threats lurking around or akumas on the loose, I think I’ll leave.”

Adrien simply bade her farewell. He probably needed to get back to his homework.

Back at his desk, Adrien found that all he could think of was Ladybug, love of his life. French could wait. So he took out a piece of paper, and finally finished writing a letter to give to her, the valentine he never gave to her, full of all the feelings he couldn’t manage to tell her.

* * *

 

Back in her room, Marinette approached her desk, looking at the love letter she had started to him, almost forgotten.

When Adrien had asked her if she trusted him, she realized that  _ yes, _ she did. That was even more important than loving him.

The homework today was easy. French could wait. She sat down and finished writing the love letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set up set up set up...  
> Soon we'll get to the final arc that is the only thing keeping me going with this fic, where all this foreshadowing will pay off! It's not far off, I promise!


	19. Love Letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of payoff for setup. Probably the most romantic fluff in sight for a while, as well.

Adrien could barely concentrate through school that day. All he could do was anticipate when Ladybug would come over so that he could finally give her the letter full of his love for her.

* * *

Marinette could barely concentrate through school that day. All she could do was anticipate when she went to see Adrien so that she could finally give him the letter full of her love for him.

* * *

 

There she was. Finally.

Adrien grabbed the letter, ready to give it to Ladybug as soon as she came in.

But once she was through the window, he chickened out.  _ What if she doesn’t like it? What if she hates it? What if she doesn’t like me like that, and it ruins our friendship? What if- _

Adrien’s nightmare scenarios going off in his head were halted when Ladybug took whatever it was that  _ she  _ was clutching behind her back and offered it out to him. It was a letter.

Emboldened by her giving him something, Adrien held out his own letter. They were identical envelopes.

They quickly exchanged envelopes, and each took a moment to stare at it in awe.

Still not having exchanged a word, Ladybug turned and left.

Adrien went to his desk and read his letter from her.

> Dearest you, when you love someone you must never hold back from telling them when you have the chance because one day you might realize that it's too late and that all your hopes and dreams are ruined with no way to go back in time and do it over. I want to tell it to you today before you leave so you can take my words with you. I'm hoping they'll make their way to your heart and that— when you come back, you'll give me a chance to prove how true these words really are...I love you!

She… she really did love him back. Adrien just hoped Ladybug liked his letter.

* * *

 

Back in her room, Marinette went and sat down to read her letter from him.

> Your hair is dark as night, your pretty bluebell eyes, I wonder who you are beneath that strong disguise. Every day we see each other and I hope that you'll be mine, together our love could be so true, please, will you be my Valentine?

It was the same as that valentine he never knew she’d read. But still equally oh-so-sweet.

He… he really did love her back. Marinette just hoped that Adrien liked her letter.


	20. Soft Touches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forget what I said last chapter. Plenty of fluff in here, too.  
> Not really a whole lot else going on in here, either.

It was another hard day trying to concentrate through school.

Ladybug was glad when she finally arrived back in Adrien’s room.

“About the letter-” she started. Adrien had started saying the exact same thing just then. They both cut off and smiled shyly at each other.

“I love you,” Marinette whispered.

“I love you too,” Adrien whispered back.

Then he grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers.

Marinette was in heaven just then, but…

“Adrien, even though we like each other, we can’t date or anything.”   
He frowned. “Why not?”

“Because I’m Ladybug,” she explained. “We established that Papillion is already targeting you enough as it is. If we were in a relationship together…”

Adrien understood without saying anything. “Then you’re probably right. As long as I get to see you, I’m fine.”

Ladybug smiled softly at him.

Suddenly, he perked up, as if just remembering something. “Oh! Since tomorrow’s the first day of summer, my father’s having the Sunrise Spectacular Fashion Event. You’re coming to that, right?”

Ladybug realized that she  _ had _ forgotten about it. “Of course!”

She made a mental note to go to bed early tonight so that she could get up in time for the event.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who was too lazy to fulfill the prompt.  
> Unsurprise, me. It's very vague. So it's supposedly the holding hands that is the soft touches. ???  
> Anyway, almost caught up. Tomorrow starts the final arc that I love. Hope you enjoy!


	21. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final arc begins towards Papillion's demise...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Finally here.  
> I'm kind of weirdly love the summer solstice, and I wanted to make the chapter be focused mainly on it, but then the way the dates lined up, it was on the day I planned to start my final, favorite arc of the story. But I figured out a small way to incorporate it.  
> I'm almost certain that I'm incapable of writing fluff, because I hate leaving loose ends, so here we go.  
> One Papillion defeat coming right up!

It was five minutes to sunrise. Where was Ladybug?

Adrien was getting worried that she wouldn’t show. He didn’t really see her in the early morning, so he didn’t know if she woke up early or not.

_There she was._

It was one minutes until it started. Once Ladybug reached him, he grabbed her hand, causing her to blush. Hopefully, it wasn’t obvious to the casual viewer.

“Adrien!” Ladybug hissed. “I thought that we established that we shouldn’t do anything like this _yesterday!”_

“Shh,” he said in return. “The show’s about to start.”

As the sun started to come over the horizon, the platform that Gabriel was on rose up in front of it, creating a silhouette.

It was dreadfully familiar. It was exactly the same as Papillion’s.

Adrien turned to face Ladybug. She evidently recognized who it was as well.

That left little doubt in Adrien’s mind. His father was Papillion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... but not quite yet. This fic has to last us the rest of the month, remember?  
> And now you have all been given the image of the Arizona flag(albeit modified) with the silhouette of Papillion on top of it. I, for one, think it came out quite nice. Honestly, once I tried thinking of ideas to make the sunrise stand out, this instantly came to mind, and I had to use it.  
> This chapter may have been short, but what it lacks in length, it makes up for in importance.


	22. Admirer

Ladybug sighed on Adrien’s bed.

They had talked about it yesterday. Adrien coped, and got through the shock of his father being the supervillain that had terrorized Paris for the past two years.

She had talked with Chat Noir, and he had come to terms with the fact of this being certain.

Now she was back at Adrien’s, and they had made no progress.

“I don’t know how I can face my father,” Adrien complained.

“No worries there for a while. You don’t have a meal scheduled to eat with your father until in two weeks,” Ladybug replied.

Adrien looked up at her. “How do you know that?”

Had she  _ really _ just said that. “I… do.”

He squinted his eyes at her. “You know my schedule better than I know it myself.” When she didn’t reply, he continued. “Are you a secret admirer of mine?”

“No!” Ladybug shouted. “Well, I mean… yes?”

Adrien chuckled at her expense. Ladybug scowled. “Should I bonk you on the head with my yoyo? Apparently you’re cruel, and I am enemies to cruel people.”

Adrien snorted. “If I were  _ really _ your enemy, you’d tie me up and send me flying away.”

That was true. But… “How do  _ you _ know my fighting style so well?” When he didn’t respond, she continued. “Are  _ you _ a secret admirer of  _ mine _ ?”

Adrien’s face turned bright red, which she took for a  _ yes. _

Ladybug checked the time. She would need to go back home for dinner soon. “Well, I’m off. Guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Only she didn’t know how soon it would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess this was... more fluff? With a bit of freaking out?  
> I really just don't know.  
> Blah Blah Blah. I like doing notes, but this chapter doesn't really have anything I want to talk about.  
> Actually, it does have one thing. Yesterday, I completely finished the fic. Yay!  
> Don't expect it to be edited, though. I don't really edit.


	23. Press

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly, I try to have them at least set up for the overall plot, but this one didn't really fit.  
> So if there's any one chapter that I'd call standalone, it's this one.

As soon as Alya heard a crash while at the park, and Marinette ran off to the bathroom, she was excited. It looked as though there was an akuma.

It must’ve been Chloe, angry about Adrien spending less time with her? Because she was looking for him.

Ladybug showed up. Alya just happened to get a  _ great _ picture of her grabbing Adrien by the hand and running with him to safety.

Shortly after that, she reappeared, and Chat Noir was back within a couple of minutes. They quickly defeated the akuma.

* * *

 

After the battle, Ladybug approached Alya. “I know you got a picture of me running with Adrien to safety. Could you please not post it?”

Alya frowned. “Why?”

“I don’t want Papillion to see it and get the wrong idea. Adrien might be targeted if he does.”

Alya wouldn’t want that. For any civilian, and especially not Adrien, who she cared about more than the general public. “Fine.”

But there was no way she was  _ deleting _ that photo. After all, Marinette had to know who her competition was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alya's point of view was fun to write. I love Adrien and Marinette, but it's always more fun to write with the other characters. My personal favorite is probably Chloe or Plagg.  
> Finally! Tomorrow we get the reveal, and then afterwards, all we have to do is defeat Papillion. I'm very excited for the rest!


	24. Reveal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! They figure it out!  
> This is a double-blind reveal. If you know what that is, great. If you don't know what that is, this is one.  
> (Basically they both figure it out separately, but don't think the other person knows.)

It was _definitely_ the end of the school year. Everything was winding down.

In fact, in French class today, now that they were finished with their final project, they were just chilling around.

Adrien felt a small poking on his arm. He looked down and saw his kwami. “Plagg! What are you doing?”

“I need more Camembert,” Plagg said matter-of-factly.

Adrien scowled. “If you already ate what I brought, forget it. You should know better than to just stuff your face.”

Plagg huffed and zipped off out of the room. But Adrien wasn’t too concerned. It wasn’t likely that Papillion would send an akuma two days in a row.

He just talked to Nino until Alya started an impromptu talent show. “C’mon, Marinette! Show them your mad yoyo skills!”

“Fine… fine… alright.” Marinette walked up to the front of the classroom, clutching a red yoyo with everyone else’s attention on her. Then she started showing her “mad yoyo skills.”

They were… exactly like Ladybug’s. She could _be_ Ladybug with those tricks.

And everything just sort of clicked into place. Why Marinette hadn’t been in her room after Ladybug said she was there. The yoyo skills. Why Marinette only showed up at the convention after Ladybug left. Then Marinette asked him to tutor her, and that explained why his and Ladybug’s texts were as though they were having a conversation that day. Why Ladybug was so clumsy. How she knew what Chat Noir was like so well, when comparing Cardboard Noir to the real thing. Why Marinette went after Alya, and didn’t reappear until after the prosecutor was defeated. Being Ladybug was probably _what_ she was so worried about when they talked about their concerns for the future. Why she had his father hide at their school. How she was so good and easily defeated him in Ultimate Mecha Strike 3. Why Ladybug trusted him so much, because she was his friend as Marinette. Why she _loved_ him, more than a celebrity crush. Why she was so interested in seeing the Sunrise Spectacular Fashion Show. Maybe even how she knew his schedule so well.

There was a screech and a crash. Now he knew why Marinette dashed out of the room. He followed suit, and it wasn’t until he reached the locker room that Adrien realized that he couldn’t transform. Plagg still was gone.

But he _had_ to help Ladybug. His lady, his love, his friend.

He never _did_ take that Cardboard Noir costume out of his locker, did he?

* * *

 

The akuma screeched again. Ladybug had no idea what it was, except that it kept screeching.

Using a giant, magical noise maker, like you used for a party. That’s probably where the akuma was. But she needed Chat Noir to come and distract it before she could do anything about it. Where _was_ he?   
Suddenly, she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. Ladybug turned to get a better look at whatever it was.

Cardboard Noir? What was Adrien doing? Ladybug didn’t think that he’d do something like _this_ at all.

“M’lady!” he called out. “I know I look a tad strange, but it’s so nice to see you again, even if it’s only been since yesterday.”

That was _definitely_ Chat Noir speaking. Which meant Adrien was Chat Noir. Ladybug didn’t give herself time to process the information. They had to defeat the akuma.

“Chat! Can you distract the akuma for me?”

He went to work on that immediately. Ladybug finally had a chance to step back from the fight for a moment. “Lucky Charm!”

Down came a fishing pole. It wasn’t very hard to tell what to do with this. The noise maker drove away anything that got close to it, so Ladybug hadn’t had an opportunity to grab it before.

Ladybug cast it, and it hooked onto the noise maker, which she reeled in and tore, releasing the akuma. She quickly deevilized it and let it go, before ladybug threw the fishing pole up into the air to restore everything.

“Pound it!”

They then separated to return to… well, they both had to return to French class, didn’t they?

* * *

 

Situated back in French class, Marinette had a proper chance to think about what she’d figured out.

Adrien was Chat Noir.

It explained so much. Made so much fit together. Why he’d come down from her room. Why he’d also been gone for most of that convention. Why Chat Noir was so good at fencing. Why he wrote that valentine to Ladybug and discarded it. Oh… he probably thought something akin to “Not again” when she crashed into him the second time this month. And of course that’s why he rose to the challenge and did _such_ a Chat Noir- like think such as creating Cardboard Noir, and that was why he said something alluding to _curiosity killed the cat._ That was why he was looking at her particularly admiringly after giving her “verdict” on Adrien’s innocence. How he always knew the layout of the school so well and did excellent at Ultimate Mecha Strike 3. And _he_ was Aspik, the replacement for himself, of course! Why he gave her his valentine again in a love letter and so wanted to hold her hand. It was why he instantly recognized Papillion’s silhouette as well, and why Chat Noir took the news of who he was so well after Ladybug helped Adrien through it first before telling her partner. It was how he knew her fighting style so well.

When a small black shadow flew to Adrien, which must have been the missing Plagg earlier that had caused Adrien to become Cardboard Noir rather than Chat Noir, who Adrien instantly berated, it all made sense.

So then why did Marinette feel so terribly uneasy about it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, they won't suffer... *too* long.


	25. Hiding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only six months until Christmas!!!  
> That's only 182 more days!

Third akuma attack in as many days.

Well, defeating Mr. Pigeon for the twenty-fifth time hadn’t been hard, but he’d invited them out for ice cream afterwards, and Chat Noir suggested he bond to another animal.

Afterwards, while walking away, Chat tried to get Ladybug to go to a movie with him. If not, maybe later Adrien could ask Marinette.

Apparently it was too long, because now they had only one minute left to find a hiding spot. And that crowd of fans couldn’t be very accommodating.

They escaped to a rooftop, where they both slinked into the maintenance closet. Chat Noir closed his eyes as his transformation dropped, and he heard Ladybug’s do the same a moment later.

After a moment, he heard Ladybug’s- well, Marinette’s- voice speak up. “I’m opening my eyes. I already know who you are, Adrien.” After a breath pause, she continued. “I’m fine if you do the same. It’s alright if you know who I am.”

“But I already know who you are, Marinette,” Adrien said. He opened his eyes anyways.

“You  _ did? _ ” she exclaimed. “Since when?”

Adrien shrugged. “I figured it out yesterday when you showed your ‘mad yoyo skills.’”

Marinette placed her face in her hands and groaned. “I knew it probably wasn’t a good idea to show those to Alya. Then she announced that I had to do it for the class like that.”

Adrien chuckled. “So. When did  _ you _ figure it out?”

“Cardboard Noir,” she admitted. “At first I thought it was just you, Adrien, and then you spoke, sounding  _ exactly _ like Chat Noir, and everything sorta just… clicked.”

Adrien grinned. “Well, now we can date.  _ That’s _ a good thing, I suppose.”

Marinette froze up. “Wait. There’s something I want to do before I confess my love for you.”

“What?”

“Defeat Papillion.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I basically hacked the end scene from Time Tagger. It's hard to come up with akumas.  
> See? Nice, non-angsty reveal. They both accept it pretty easily. Because all that set-up makes it be perfect sense.  
> Ah... so nice for them to both know and know that the other one knows as well.  
> Well, off to trying to win, now!


	26. Piano

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is supposed to be done with this is obvious.

The next day, Ladybug came to Adrien’s room to plan out how to defeat Papillion.

“You can detransform,” Adrien invited.

Ladybug shook her head. “As Marinette, my brain would probably short-circuit from being in my long-time crush’s room.”

He raised an eyebrow at that. “Long-time crush, eh?”

She blushed, once again regretting having said that. “So, do you have any better ideas for defeating Papillion than we’ve already discussed?”

Adrien sighed overly-dramatically. “Are you trying to change the topic?” he challenged.

Ladybug shook her head vehemently. “No! That’s just why I came here, so I wanted to talk about it.”

Again with the theatrics. “But I wanted to make romantic overtures to you.”

Ladybug put her head in her hands. Was her partner  _ trying _ embarrass her to pieces. “What is it this time?”

“I’m going to win your heart over with music.”

He didn’t need to win her heart over, and she didn’t want that. “No-”

Not one to be dissuaded, Adrien went over to the piano as if she hadn’t protested at all.

“Fine,” she sighed. “Just get it over with already.”

Adrien sat down and began to play. It was the song that Clara Nightingale made for them. And  _ yes, _ Ladybug admitted that him playing it on the piano  _ was _ sweet and romantic.

The next song that Jagged Stone had written for her was also nice, but the enchantment was worn down by her wishing he had cut it out at  _ one _ song.

When he moved on to a third song, that was the last straw.

Ladybug threw her yoyo upwards, swinging it over one of the rails on his balcony, and it looped down and under the piano, securing it well enough that Ladybug was able to pull it upwards, forcing Adrien to stop playing. He just stared up at it.

“Stop,” Ladybug told him. “I admit, the first song was nice, but I think you should’ve cut it off at that. We really  _ do _ need to talk about what to do with Papillion.”

Adrien relented. “Fine. But could you please put my piano down nicely first?”

Ladybug happily did so, and they moved to his couch. “First of all, I think we need to do some information gathering. Since your father never seems to leave the house, I figure his lair must be somewhere in here.”

Adrien nodded. “You’re probably right. We should look… tomorrow.”

She tilted her head in confusion at this. “Why tomorrow?”

“He’s going out for a meeting in Spain. It will take two days, so we’ll have time to do some sleuthing and concoct a plan to confront him before he gets back.”

Ladybug grinned. “Sounds like a plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But I changed it up a little bit. Heh.  
> I could see them doing something like this post-reveal, though, to be honest.


	27. Protecting You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Literally them doing their plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit ridiculous, yes, but I love ridiculous.

“Adrien,” Ladybug sighed, sounding disappointed for some reason. “It is absolutely unnecessary and ridiculous to have that.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s practically useless.”

“So it won’t cause any harm. I just want to be prepared.”

“There is a very low chance that we will be in any danger at all. And even if we  _ are _ , I have my yoyo which will be  _ far  _ more effective at defending us.”

“I insist.”

Ladybug sighed. “Fine. Whatever. I suppose there’s no harm in bringing along a fencing foil that doesn’t have a sharp edge on it.”

Adrien grinned. “Great!”

And they were off.

They got down the stairs, and hesitated as the doors opened. Was his father’s trip canceled?

Both teens tensed. Ladybug pulled out her yoyo and started swinging it, just in case she needed it in a moment. As they came through the door, Adrien dashed forward, foil extended, ready to strike at whoever it was.

It was his bodyguard, arms full of groceries, looking  _ very _ surprised at what had happened. Adrien backed away. “Sorry,” he apologized.

The bodyguard looked back and forth between the two of them, apparently rather confused. Adrien couldn’t blame him.

Fortunately, Ladybug stepped up. “Please don’t stop us, but we’re searching the house for Papillion’s lair.”

His expression just got more confused, until Ladybug added, “You do know that your employer is Papillion, right?”

The way the bodyguard’s eyes widened in shock indicated that no, he did not. After blinking once to regain his composure, he gestured up to Gabriel’s office. Ladybug might not have understood what it meant, but Adrien had spent long enough around the man to read his intentions.

“Thank you,” he said, before heading up to his father’s office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, the picture quality has gotten worse and worse... but it will stop from now on. The last three get better.  
> It's implied that they find Papillion's lair. Just to clarify.


	28. Tangled

After school was out for the week, Ladybug headed almost _immediately_ to Adrien’s house.

Yesterday, they had successfully figured out how to get into Papillion’s layer. And found the peacock brooch, as a side bonus, which Ladybug took back to Master Fu.

Now they just needed a plan.

“When did you say that your father was getting back, again?” Ladybug asked for clarification.

“Tomorrow morning,” Adrien replied.

Ladybug thought about it. “Maybe we should just confront him. While he’s detransformed, and we might convince him to just give up his miraculous willingly.”

Adrien nodded his agreement. “Can I see your yoyo?”

Ladybug frowned. “Why?”

“I’d like to leave a message for myself as Chat Noir.”

That sounded harmless enough, so she handed it to him.

After _quite_ a while of typing, she began to be curious. “What is it?” she asked, craning her neck to see.

Adrien leaned away, hiding it from her.

Even _more_ curious now, she simply leaned over the top of it to see. It was upside down, but the message was short and easy to see.

> _Chaton <3 _
> 
> _You are awesome! The best._
> 
> _Love you lots and lots!_
> 
> _Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo_
> 
> _ <3 Your Bugaboo _

“What! No!”

Ladybug tried reaching for the yoyo to delete the message, but Adrien quickly pressed _Send_ and tried throwing it away behind her back.

Except that he had _somehow_ snagged on of his fingers on the string, and it ultimately tied them together. Ladybug glared at Adrien while he had the goofiest smile on his face.

“ _Why_ did you do that?” she asked. “I _told_ you that I’d confess my love to you once we defeated Papillion.”

Adrien shrugged. “I wanted proof.”

“Not really proof when you did it yourself. I would do it much more elegantly,” Ladybug sighed. “Anyways, we probably ought to get out of this tangled mess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That fluff was purely for fulfilling the purposes of the prompt.


	29. Matching

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Matching" in that they're Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Ladybug arrived  _ very _ early that morning. It wasn’t even  _ bright. _

Adrien only woke up by her coming in, in fact. He groggily looked at the clock. It was… a little past four? Oh, right. Bakers’ daughter.

“How’d you convince your parents to let you leave rather than helping them at four in the morning?” he asked her.

Ladybug detransformed into Marinette, who shrugged. “Actually, I asked them last night if I could sleep in until eight. Then I got up at four anyways. I left a note for them in case this runs longer than that, saying, ‘Dear maman and papa, if you are reading this note, then know that I am Ladybug and am somewhere in the process of defeating Papillion right now. Don’t freak out, my job should get a lot less dangerous if today plays out smoothly.’”

“You really thought out everything, didn’t you?” Adrien asked. Marinette shrugged. “But he doesn’t get back until six.”

Marinette sighed. “In that case, I am going to claim your couch and snooze for the next hour and a half.”

* * *

 

Surprisingly, Marinette woke up before Adrien’s alarm went off at 5:45. Tikki had found the kitchen full of goodies, and had long since recharged.

Marinette yawned. “Good morning, Tikki. Are you ready to defeat Papillion?”

Tikki broke into a smile. “You know it! Then all that you’ll have to worry about as Ladybug is helping civilians!”

Her smile was contagious. “Alright.  _ Transformez moi!” _

Adrien’s alarm went off right after that. He got up. “I guess you’re ready to go.”

Ladybug clenched her fists in excitement.

Adrien got down. He must’ve slept in his clothes last night or something, because he was already dressed. He came out to where she was standing. “Are we going to go then?”

She nodded, watching in interest as Adrien put out his fist and said, “Plagg!  _ Transformez moi! _ ”

* * *

 

Gabriel was tired after the long flight, but he still had to function through the day. He was still working on designs for this new fall line. Nathalie might be able to manage the business for him, but she didn’t have a creative bone in her body.

So, before anything else, he headed up to his office.

“Hello, Papillion.”

That wasn’t Nathalie, and she only ever called him Gabriel when talking to him. He looked up. There. Ladybug and Chat Noir were waiting for him in his office.

The door closed behind him. “What is this?” he asked. Evidently, they knew who he was, but he didn’t have to confirm it.

“Don’t try to fool us,” Chat Noir said, almost menacingly. “We know who you are. You almost fooled us with the Collector, but we pieced it together anyways.”

Ladybug stepped forward. “We want to ask you to give us your Miraculous willingly,” she said.

As though Gabriel would do that. “Nooroo,  _ transformez-” _

Before he could finish, Ladybug’s yoyo had shot forward, snagging his brooch off of his shirt. Ladybug pulled it out of her magical compartment. “I always  _ was _ good at catching butterflies.”

Gabriel tried to lunge forward. If he could just grab her earrings-

Chat Noir caught him from behind. “Give it up. It’s over, Papillion.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm getting lazy with these Notes. I'n trying to focus on watching Milo Murphy's Law.


	30. Paris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Epilogue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're reading this, thank you. I had a lot of fun reading this, but if you took the time to read all of it, that's great too!

After Papillion had been defeated and the butterfly miraculous returned to Master Fu, the rest of the day passed by in a whirlwind of turning Gabriel Agreste into the police, interviews, and so on. Still, only her parents and Chat Noir knew Ladybug’s identity. Though it was another difficulty to explain to her parents about her _extracurricular_ activities once she got home after a long day, they were very supporting and she knew that it be easier to excuse herself now that they knew.

Gabriel Agreste was being charged on Terrorism, and Nathalie Sancouer for being an accomplice. When it was revealed that Emilie Agreste was dead(at which point Chat Noir left to mourn), it was determined that his bodyguard would have custody of him until it could be decided if Gabriel could be released and function as a stable parent. Upon hearing about it, Chat Noir was pleased with the decision, since he was the only adult in his life who seemed to be concerned and care for Adrien.

It was not perfect yet, and most Parisians could hardly believe that they were finally free from the threat of constant akuma attacks lying over their heads. But in a few months, or maybe even weeks, everything would be settled back into a new normal, and be all the better off for it.

Ladybug heard someone walk up beside her on the top of the Eiffel tower. Considering that the access to the top was closed today, it could only be one person. “Hello, Chaton,” she greeted without even turning from her view of Paris.

“You’re not going to look at me?” Chat Noir asked, probably faking the hurt tone in his voice.

Ladybug took a step back, and turned around to walk to where he was. “Are you feeling better?”

He shrugged. “It still hurts to know that I’ll never see my mother alive again, of course. But… compared to learning that my father was Papillion, this is considerably easier to recover from.” Chat took a deep breath. “But one thing _could_ make me feel better, m’lady…”

“Yes?” she asked.

He smirked. “You promised me something for once we defeated Papillion. I understand that yesterday was rather crazy, but it’s not like we have anything going on right now.”

Of _course_ that’s what he wanted. Well, Ladybug was more than happy to comply. “Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste. You are the love of my life, and I love you with all my heart.”

Chat Noir broke into a broad grin. “Ladybug, I fell in love with the most _stunning, amazing, courageous_ and _selfless_ girl. As Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you were the cutest, kindest, talented and friendly girl I knew. I fell for Ladybug first, but I think it wasn’t long until I fell for Marinette, too. So you _totally_ and _completely_ claimed my heart.”

Ladybug looked down, unable to hide her blush. Leave it to him to up her with the most eloquent love confession. “Just kiss me already.”

Chat pulled back. “We’ve already kissed as Ladybug and Chat Noir, even if I don’t remember either time. Why don’t we let Adrien and Marinette have a turn?”

Ladybug sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

In unison, they said, _“Detransformez moi.”_

But she didn’t wait until it was done before wrapping her arms around his neck and going on her tiptoes for their kiss.

So their first kiss with perfect clarity and intention behind it was as Ladybug, Chat Noir, Marinette, and Adrien.

And I, for one, think that’s beautiful.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaand that was long!  
> The other chapters should be shorter, but you can't really do much to trim down an akuma battle. Especially for this one, which I had to set up the reason for it with the plot.


End file.
